Genome Property Definition Page
Accession | GenProp0151 | |
Name | resistance to mercury | |
Type | SYSTEM | |
Description | Detoxification of inorganic and organic mercury compounds involves the enzymatic reduction of extracellular mercuric ions or organomercurials into less-toxic metallic mercury, where it is released into the cytoplasm and volatiles from the cell. Mercuric ions diffuse across the outer membrane by a mer transport system, which binds and transfers mercury ions via a pair of cysteine residues to the active site of a mercuric reductase. Alternatively, an organomercurial lyase is required for hydrolysis of the carbon-mercury bond of organomercurial compounds before reduction proceeds. Transcribed separately and divergently, a mercury-sensitive transcriptional activator both positively and negatively regulates mer expression, while a co-transcribed secondary regulatory protein down-regulates this mer operon. This resistance system, often encoded on plasmids and transferred via transposons, is found in both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria [1]. | |
JCVI Role | Detoxification | |
Parent Property | GenProp0303: detoxification | |
Literature References |
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Gene Ontology Term | GO:0015694: mercury ion transport (biological_process) GO:0046413: organomercury catabolic process (biological_process) GO:0046689: response to mercury ion (biological_process) GO:0046689: response to mercury ion (biological_process) GO:0046689: response to mercury ion (biological_process) GO:0050787: detoxification of mercury ion (biological_process) |
Components
Step Name | Step Num | Required | Evidence (Method) | Evidence Go Terms |
---|---|---|---|---|
mercuric reductase | MerA | YES | TIGR02053 (HMM): mercury(II) reductase | GO:0050787: detoxification of mercury ion |
organomercurial lyase | MerB | NO | PF03243 (HMM): alkylmercury lyase | GO:0046689: response to mercury ion GO:0046413: organomercury catabolic process |
mercury transporter, MerC | MerC | YES | PF03203 (HMM): MerC mercury resistance protein | GO:0046689: response to mercury ion GO:0015694: mercury ion transport |
transcriptional co-regulator, MerD | MerD | YES | TIGR02054 (HMM): mercuric resistence transcriptional repressor protein MerD | GO:0046689: response to mercury ion |
periplasmic mercury binding protein, MerP | MerP | YES | TIGR02052 (HMM): mercuric transport protein periplasmic component | GO:0050787: detoxification of mercury ion |
mercury responsive transcriptional activator | MerR | YES | TIGR02051 (HMM): Hg(II)-responsive transcriptional regulator | GO:0046689: response to mercury ion |
mercury transporter, MerT | MerT | YES | PF02411 (HMM): MerT mercuric transport protein | GO:0046689: response to mercury ion GO:0015694: mercury ion transport |
Parent Properties
Accession | Name |
---|---|
GenProp0303 | detoxification |
Sibling Properties
Accession | Name |
---|---|
GenProp0213 | Resistance to Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) |
GenProp0474 | arsenical resistance system |
GenProp0488 | superoxide dismutase, nickel-type |
GenProp0562 | formaldehyde detoxification, glutathione-dependent |
GenProp0673 | ribulose monophosphate pathway |
GenProp0676 | alkylhydroperoxide reductase AhpCF (peroxiredoxin) |
GenProp0744 | glyoxalase pathway, glutathione dependent |