Detoxification of methylmecury in dolphins

We propose to study how methylmercury is detoxified in the muscles of dolphins from the east coast of Florida. The identity and proportions of the Hg species will be obtained using Hg L3-edge HERFD-XANES spectroscopy, and the metabolic demethylation pathways will be obtained by inverting the Hg speciation and the 202Hg and 198Hg isotopic data. Results will allow us to assess if the animals suffer from Hg toxicity, which typically impair swimming bahavior and their survival.