Metallomic study of mercury in fish muscle (Semaprochilodus sp.) from Amazon ‐ Brazil (778.3)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to present the metallomics results obtained for the protein fractionation in muscle samples of “jaraqui” (Semaprochilodus sp) from JIRAU Hydroelectric Power Plant ‐ Madeira River/Amazon, Brazil. The protein spots obtained after the fractionation (2D‐PAGE) were cut from the gel and analyzed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) and the protein spots in which were detected mercury were characterized by mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS/MS). The GFAAS determinations indicated that 65% of the mercury linked to protein fraction with molar mass (Mm) lower than 50 kDa. The mercury concentration present in five selected spots was between 12 and 40 mg kg‐1. Based on these concentrations was possible to estimate approximately one to three mercury atoms per molecule of protein spots. The ESI‐MS/MS analysis allowed to characterize the follow proteins: Hemoglobin subunit beta (Mm= 16.60, pI= 6.00); Hemoglobin subunit beta‐A/B (Mm= 16.95, pI= 8.90); Parvalbumin alpha (Mm= 12.40, pI= 3.20); Parvalbumin beta (Mm= 13.10, pI=3.60) and Parvalbumin 2 (Mm= 11.82, pI= 3.40).Grant Funding Source: Financial Support: Fapesp 2009/54856‐8 and ESBR PD‐6631‐0001/2012