An investigation of the Hg2+ resistance mechanism of four freshwater and four coastal marine bacteria that did not hybridize with a mer operonic probe was conducted (T. Barkay, C. Liebert, and M. Gillman, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 55:1196-1202, 1989). Hybridization with a merA probe, the gene encoding the mercuric reductase polypeptide, at a stringency of hybridization permitting hybrid formati...

Nanotechnology is new form of technology which has produced a great development in variousfields. Nanoparticles are of the great scientific interest as they are effectively a bridge between bulk material and atomic & molecular structures. Nanoparticles are the particle that have size 1 to 100 nm and possess due to large surface area to volume ratio & smaller size. Different types of nanom...

We report two ESIPT active novel fluorescent probes, 1 and 2, based on benzoxazole benzimidazole units, respectively. Their sensing aptitude towards metal ions in aqueous media is reported. A specific response of to Al3+ and, a lesser extent, Zn2+, was found, while the emission 2 highly impacted by Al3+, Cu2+, Fe2+ Fe3+ either blue shift or quenching emission. Emission also shows relative sensi...

The stability of the mercury ion mediated dU-HgII-dU pair depends on substituents introduced at the 5-position of the pyrimidine moiety. To this end, a series of oligonucleotides were synthesized with dU modification in central position. Common and new phosphoramidites were utilized. Hybridization experiments provided 12-mer duplexes with non-canonical "dU-dU" pairs. In most cases Hg2+ stabiliz...

The primary aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that amino acid transport systems are involved in absorptive transport of dicysteinylmercury (cysteine-Hg-cysteine). Luminal disappearance flux [JD, fmol x min(-1) (mm tubular length)(-1)] of inorganic mercury (Hg2+), in the form of dicysteinylmercury, was measured in isolated perfused S2 segments with various amino acids or amino ...

The binding of Hg2+ and 3,6-bis-(acetatomercurimethyl)-dioxane (BAMD) to sonicated calf thymus DNA was studied by small-angle X-ray scattering and viscosity measurements. The scattering experiments with DNA complexed by different amounts of mercurials (for Hg2+ rb=0-0.79, for BAMD rb=0-0.86 mol of mercurial bound per mol of base pairs) established that the rod-like character of the DNA molecule...

The structural basis for induction of the mercury resistance operon with inorganic mercury and with the organomercurial compound phenylmercuric acetate was addressed by DNA sequencing analysis and by lac fusion transcription experiments regulated by merR in trans from broad-spectrum-resistance plasmid pDU1358 (Hg2+ and phenylmercury responding). The lac fusion results were compared with those f...

A low cost, solid optical sensor for the rapid detection of low concentrations of Hg2+ in aqueous media was prepared by the monolayer functionalization of mesoporous silica with 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphinetetrasulfonic acid (TPPS), anchored by N-trimethoxysilylpropyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium chloride (TMAC). The detection is based on the color change of TPPS from orange to green as a result o...

A method for the detection and quantitation of Hg2+ in aqueous samples by fluorescence spectroscopy is presented. It consists of a turn-on sensor developed by coupling Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with the rhodamine 6G derivative FC1, in which the response is generated by a mercury-induced ring-opening reaction. The AuNPs were included in order to improve the sensitivity of the method towards the...