Microbes and Probiotics Aid in Detoxifying Mercury in Gut

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have found that gut microbes could be used to block the absorption of toxic metals like mercury while promoting the absorption of beneficial ones like iron. The team developed a probiotic specifically designed to detoxify a harmful type of mercury frequently found in the human diet by inserting genes from a highly resistant bacteria into a genus of lactic acid bacteria. The ultimate goal of the research is to understand how gut microbes interact with various metals, aiming to create interventions that can reduce levels of dangerous metals and boost absorption of beneficial ones.