Sopping Up Heavy Metal: Hybrid material removes mercury from water

Endowed with resourceful molecular machinery, microbes can adapt to environments as unappealing as oil slicks and toxic-waste dumps. Some bacteria can even bind to heavy metals such as mercury–a trick that researchers at the University of California, Riverside are now exploiting for treating contaminated water.

When exposed to mercury, the bacterium Escherichia coli synthesizes a protein that binds specifically to the heavy metal.