A hidden demethylation pathway removes mercury from rice plants and mitigates mercury flux to food chains

Wenli Tang; Xu Bai; Yang Zhou; Christian Sonne; Mengjie Wu; Su Shiung Lam; Holger Hintelmann; Carl P.J. Mitchell; Alexander Johs; Baohua Gu; Luís Nunes; Cun Liu; Naixian Feng; Sihai Yang; Jörg Rinklebe; Yan Lin; Long Chen; Yanxu Zhang; Yanan Yang; Jiaqi Wang; Shouying Li; Qingru Wu; Yong Sik Ok; Diandou Xu; Hong Li; Xu Xiang Zhang; Hongqiang Ren; Guibin Jiang; Zhifang Chai; Yuxi Gao; Jiating Zhao; Huan Zhong

doi:10.1038/s43016-023-00910-x

A hidden demethylation pathway removes mercury from rice plants and mitigates mercury flux to food chains

Wenli Tang, Xu Bai, Yang Zhou, Christian Sonne, Mengjie Wu, Su Shiung Lam, Holger Hintelmann, Carl P.J. Mitchell, Alexander Johs, Baohua Gu, Luís Nunes, Cun Liu, Naixian Feng, Sihai Yang, Jörg Rinklebe, Yan Lin, Long Chen, Yanxu Zhang, Yanan Yang, Jiaqi WangShouying Li, Qingru Wu, Yong Sik Ok, Diandou Xu, Hong Li, Xu Xiang Zhang, Hongqiang Ren, Guibin Jiang, Zhifang Chai, Yuxi Gao, Jiating Zhao, Huan Zhong

Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Dietary exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) causes irreversible damage to human cognition and is mitigated by photolysis and microbial demethylation of MeHg. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) has been identified as a major dietary source of MeHg. However, it remains unknown what drives the process within plants for MeHg to make its way from soils to rice and the subsequent human dietary exposure to Hg. Here we report a hidden pathway of MeHg demethylation independent of light and microorganisms in rice plants. This natural pathway is driven by reactive oxygen species generated in vivo, rapidly transforming MeHg to inorganic Hg and then eliminating Hg from plants as gaseous Hg°. MeHg concentrations in rice grains would increase by 2.4- to 4.7-fold without this pathway, which equates to intelligence quotient losses of 0.01–0.51 points per newborn in major rice-consuming countries, corresponding to annual economic losses of US$30.7–84.2 billion globally. This discovered pathway effectively removes Hg from human food webs, playing an important role in exposure mitigation and global Hg cycling.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	72-82
Number of pages	11
Journal	Nature Food
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00910-x
Publication status	Published - 2024 Jan

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Food Science
Animal Science and Zoology
Agronomy and Crop Science

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Tang, W., Bai, X., Zhou, Y., Sonne, C., Wu, M., Lam, S. S., Hintelmann, H., Mitchell, C. P. J., Johs, A., Gu, B., Nunes, L., Liu, C., Feng, N., Yang, S., Rinklebe, J., Lin, Y., Chen, L., Zhang, Y., Yang, Y., ... Zhong, H. (2024). A hidden demethylation pathway removes mercury from rice plants and mitigates mercury flux to food chains. Nature Food, 5(1), 72-82. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00910-x

Tang, W, Bai, X, Zhou, Y, Sonne, C, Wu, M, Lam, SS, Hintelmann, H, Mitchell, CPJ, Johs, A, Gu, B, Nunes, L, Liu, C, Feng, N, Yang, S, Rinklebe, J, Lin, Y, Chen, L, Zhang, Y, Yang, Y, Wang, J, Li, S, Wu, Q, Ok, YS, Xu, D, Li, H, Zhang, XX, Ren, H, Jiang, G, Chai, Z, Gao, Y, Zhao, J & Zhong, H 2024, 'A hidden demethylation pathway removes mercury from rice plants and mitigates mercury flux to food chains', Nature Food, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 72-82. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00910-x

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abstract = "Dietary exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) causes irreversible damage to human cognition and is mitigated by photolysis and microbial demethylation of MeHg. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) has been identified as a major dietary source of MeHg. However, it remains unknown what drives the process within plants for MeHg to make its way from soils to rice and the subsequent human dietary exposure to Hg. Here we report a hidden pathway of MeHg demethylation independent of light and microorganisms in rice plants. This natural pathway is driven by reactive oxygen species generated in vivo, rapidly transforming MeHg to inorganic Hg and then eliminating Hg from plants as gaseous Hg°. MeHg concentrations in rice grains would increase by 2.4- to 4.7-fold without this pathway, which equates to intelligence quotient losses of 0.01–0.51 points per newborn in major rice-consuming countries, corresponding to annual economic losses of US$30.7–84.2 billion globally. This discovered pathway effectively removes Hg from human food webs, playing an important role in exposure mitigation and global Hg cycling.",

author = "Wenli Tang and Xu Bai and Yang Zhou and Christian Sonne and Mengjie Wu and Lam, {Su Shiung} and Holger Hintelmann and Mitchell, {Carl P.J.} and Alexander Johs and Baohua Gu and Lu{\'i}s Nunes and Cun Liu and Naixian Feng and Sihai Yang and J{\"o}rg Rinklebe and Yan Lin and Long Chen and Yanxu Zhang and Yanan Yang and Jiaqi Wang and Shouying Li and Qingru Wu and Ok, {Yong Sik} and Diandou Xu and Hong Li and Zhang, {Xu Xiang} and Hongqiang Ren and Guibin Jiang and Zhifang Chai and Yuxi Gao and Jiating Zhao and Huan Zhong",

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doi = "10.1038/s43016-023-00910-x",

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AU - Tang, Wenli

AU - Bai, Xu

AU - Zhou, Yang

AU - Sonne, Christian

AU - Wu, Mengjie

AU - Lam, Su Shiung

AU - Hintelmann, Holger

AU - Mitchell, Carl P.J.

AU - Johs, Alexander

AU - Gu, Baohua

AU - Nunes, Luís

AU - Liu, Cun

AU - Feng, Naixian

AU - Yang, Sihai

AU - Rinklebe, Jörg

AU - Lin, Yan

AU - Chen, Long

AU - Zhang, Yanxu

AU - Yang, Yanan

AU - Wang, Jiaqi

AU - Li, Shouying

AU - Wu, Qingru

AU - Ok, Yong Sik

AU - Xu, Diandou

AU - Li, Hong

AU - Zhang, Xu Xiang

AU - Ren, Hongqiang

AU - Jiang, Guibin

AU - Chai, Zhifang

AU - Gao, Yuxi

AU - Zhao, Jiating

AU - Zhong, Huan

PY - 2024/1

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N2 - Dietary exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) causes irreversible damage to human cognition and is mitigated by photolysis and microbial demethylation of MeHg. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) has been identified as a major dietary source of MeHg. However, it remains unknown what drives the process within plants for MeHg to make its way from soils to rice and the subsequent human dietary exposure to Hg. Here we report a hidden pathway of MeHg demethylation independent of light and microorganisms in rice plants. This natural pathway is driven by reactive oxygen species generated in vivo, rapidly transforming MeHg to inorganic Hg and then eliminating Hg from plants as gaseous Hg°. MeHg concentrations in rice grains would increase by 2.4- to 4.7-fold without this pathway, which equates to intelligence quotient losses of 0.01–0.51 points per newborn in major rice-consuming countries, corresponding to annual economic losses of US$30.7–84.2 billion globally. This discovered pathway effectively removes Hg from human food webs, playing an important role in exposure mitigation and global Hg cycling.

AB - Dietary exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) causes irreversible damage to human cognition and is mitigated by photolysis and microbial demethylation of MeHg. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) has been identified as a major dietary source of MeHg. However, it remains unknown what drives the process within plants for MeHg to make its way from soils to rice and the subsequent human dietary exposure to Hg. Here we report a hidden pathway of MeHg demethylation independent of light and microorganisms in rice plants. This natural pathway is driven by reactive oxygen species generated in vivo, rapidly transforming MeHg to inorganic Hg and then eliminating Hg from plants as gaseous Hg°. MeHg concentrations in rice grains would increase by 2.4- to 4.7-fold without this pathway, which equates to intelligence quotient losses of 0.01–0.51 points per newborn in major rice-consuming countries, corresponding to annual economic losses of US$30.7–84.2 billion globally. This discovered pathway effectively removes Hg from human food webs, playing an important role in exposure mitigation and global Hg cycling.

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A hidden demethylation pathway removes mercury from rice plants and mitigates mercury flux to food chains

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