A great number of studies have confirmed that mercury-selenium (Hg-Se) antagonism is a widespread phenomenon in microorganisms, fish, poultry, humans, and other mammals. However, by comparison, little attention has been paid to plants. To investigate the influence of Se on the uptake and translocation of methylHg/inorganic Hg (MeHg/IHg) in the rice soil system, we determined the levels of Se, IHg, and MeHg in different parts of rice plants (including the root, stem, leaf, husk, and grain (brown rice)) and corresponding soils of root zones collected from a Hg mined area, where Hg and Se co-occur due to historic Hg mining and retorting activities. The results showed that, in general, the Se levels were inversely related to the levels of both IHg and MeHg in the grains. In addition, a consistent reduction in translocation of both IHg and MeHg in the aerial shoots (i.e., the stem, leaf, husk, and grain) with increasing Se levels in the soils was observed. Furthermore, the Se levels were positively correlated with the IHg levels in the soils and the roots. These results suggest that Se may play an important role in limiting the bioaccessibility, absorption, and translocation/bioaccumulation of both IHg and MeHg in the aerial rice plant, which may be related to the formation of an HgSe insoluble complex in the rhizospheres and/or roots.

Publication name	ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY　Volume: 46 　Issue: 18 　Pages: 10040-10046　 Published: SEP 18 2012
Author(s)	Zhang, Hua; Feng, Xinbin; Zhu, Jianming; Sapkota, Atindra; Meng, Bo;Yao, Heng; Qin, Haibo; Larssen, Thorjorn
Corresponding author	FENG Xinbin  fenxinbin@vip.skleg.cn  Chinese Acad Sci, State Key Lab Environm Geochem, Inst Geochem, Guiyang 550002, Peoples R China.

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