Mercury and microorganisms in snow, bioremediation and biotecnological potentialities

Snow, a vital component of climatic and ecological systems, serves as a transient and climatically sensitive ecosystem connecting the atmosphere to the underlying soil or ice. Within this environment, unique microbial communities thrive, actively participating in biogeochemical cycles despite challenges like low temperatures, variable UV radiation, limited water availability, and oligotrophic nutrient conditions. Mercury (Hg) emissions, originating from both anthropogenic and natural processes, undergo long-range transport with a 6-24 month atmospheric residence time. Upon deposition in remote regions like the Arctic, Hg can transform into methylmercury, posing risks of bioaccumulation and biomagnification in local food webs. Bioremediation stands out as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach to address mercury pollution. Hg-resistant bacteria, spanning gram-positive and gram-negative types, play a crucial role in countering and converting Hg from a toxic to a non-toxic form. The population of these bacteria correlates with the scale of Hg pollution at a site. The processes of bacterial resistance and eventual degradation rely on the presence of the mer operon [9]. Our work wase aimed to address further information on heavy metal contamination at the high north, contributing to the existing knowledge about the Arctic, and to isolate bacterial able to tollarate and degradate Hg for future bioremediation and biotechnological applications.