Divalent Mercury in Dissolved Organic Matter Is Bioavailable to Fish and Accumulates as Dithiolate and Tetrathiolate Complexes

The freshwater cyprinid Tanichthys albonubes was used to assess the bioavailability of divalent mercury (Hg(II)) complexed in dissolved organic matter (DOM) to fish. The fish acquired 0.3 to 2.2 mu g Hg/g dry weight after 8 weeks in aquaria containing DOM from a Carex peat with complexed mercury at initial concentrations of 14 nM to 724 nM. Changes in the relative proportions of dithiolate Hg(SR)(2) and nanoparticulate beta-HgS in the DOM, as quantified by high energy-resolution XANES (HR-XANES) spectroscopy, indicate that Hg(SR)(2) complexes either produced by microbially induced dissolution of nanoparticulate beta-HgS in the DOM or present in the original DOM were the forms of mercury that entered the fish. In the fish with 2.2 mu g Hg/g, 84 +/- 8% of Hg(II) was bonded to two axial thiolate ligands and one or two equatorial N/O electron donors (Hg[(SR)(2)+(N/O)(1-2)] coordination), and 16% had a Hg(SR)(4) coordination, as determined by HR-XANES. For comparison, fish exposed to Hg2+ from 40 nM HgCl2 contained 10.4 mu g Hg/g in the forms of dithiolate (20 +/- 10%) and tetrathiolate (23 +/- 10%) complexes, and also HgxSy clusters (57 +/- 15%) having a beta-HgS-type local structure and a dimension that exceeded the size of metallothionein clusters. There was no evidence of methylmercury in the fish or DOM within the 10% uncertainty of the HR-XANES. Together, the results indicate that inorganic Hg(II) bound to DOM is a source of mercury to biota with dithiolate Hg(SR)(2) complexes as the immediate species bioavailable to fish, and that these complexes transform in response to cellular processes.