The effects of two methylmercury (CH₃Hg⁺, MeHg) concentrations, representative of environmental level and extreme contamination, were investigated on the macrophyte Elodea nuttallii during a 2h-exposure combining transcriptomic (RNA-Seq), physiological endpoints (pigment contents, activity of anti-oxidative stress enzymes) and bioaccumulation. Exposure to MeHg induced the up- and down-regulation of numerous genes (4389 and 16853 for 10 ng L⁻¹ and 10 μg L⁻¹ MeHg exposure, respectively) involved in sugar, amino acid and secondary metabolism (e.g. cinnamic acid, flavonoids) at both concentrations. Genes coding for photosynthesis, membrane integrity, metal homeostasis, water transport and anti-oxidative enzymes were additionally up- and down-regulated at the higher concentration. At the physiological level, exposure to both MeHg concentrations resulted in a strong increase of anthocyanin content in shoots. Chlorophyll content and antioxidant enzyme activities were unchanged. The data suggest that the macrophyte was able to efficiently cope with the stress resulting from MeHg exposure, possibly by using anthocyanin as anti-oxidant and S-rich amino acids (such as cysteine and methionine) as chelators. Transcriptomics analysis enabled gaining novel insights on molecular effects of MeHg in primary producers, which are one of the main entry pathway of hazardous MeHg in aquatic food webs.

在暴露2h结合转录组（RNA-Seq），生理终点（色素含量，活性）期间，研究了两种甲基汞（CH ₃ Hg ⁺，MeHg）浓度（代表环境水平和极端污染）对大型植物Elodea nuttallii的影响。抗氧化应激酶）和生物蓄积。暴露于诱导甲基汞许多基因（4389和16853为10的上调和下调纳克大号^-1和10μg大号^-1MeHg暴露分别涉及两种浓度的糖，氨基酸和次级代谢（例如肉桂酸，类黄酮）。编码光合作用，膜完整性，金属稳态，水运输和抗氧化酶的基因在较高浓度下也被上调和下调。在生理水平上，暴露于两种MeHg浓度都会导致枝条中花色苷含量大大增加。叶绿素含量和抗氧化酶活性没有变化。数据表明，大型植物能够有效地应对暴露于MeHg所引起的胁迫，这可能是通过使用花青素作为抗氧化剂和富含S的氨基酸（例如半胱氨酸和蛋氨酸）作为螯合剂。