Importance of the biogenic organic matter in photo-formation of dissolved gaseous mercury in a culture of the marine diatom Chaetoceros sp.

Laboratory experiments on DGM production under light/dark cycles in a culture of the marine diatom Chaetoceros sp. spiked with 200 ng l−1 of mercury have been performed. DGM formation has been investigated also in the cell exudates, obtained by filtration of the cell culture. Results show that the cell culture and the filtrate give the same value of DGM production (2.24±0.88 pg min−1 l−1 and 2.23±0.02 pg min−1 l−1, respectively) in the light (40 W m−2), values much higher than to those obtained in the medium culture alone. A significant DGM production has been measured in dark conditions both in the cell culture (0.48±0.11 pg min−1 l−1) and in the filtrate (0.85±0.10 pg min−1 l−1). The results highlight that the organic compounds released by the cell in the culture medium play a fundamental role in the DGM photo-formation processes.