Editing Arsenic (section)

=== Biomethylation ===
[[File:ArsenobetainePIC.svg|thumb|[[Arsenobetaine]]]]

Inorganic arsenic and its compounds, upon entering the [[food chain]], are progressively metabolized through a process of [[methylation]].<ref name="Biomethylation">{{cite journal|title = Biomethylation of Arsenic is Essentially Detoxicating Event|journal = Journal of Health Science|date = 2003|first1 = Teruaki Sakurai|volume = 49|issue = 3|pages = 171–178| doi = 10.1248/jhs.49.171|last1 = Sakurai|doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Reimer|first=K. J.|author2=Koch, I.|author3=Cullen, W.R.|date=2010|title=Organoarsenicals. Distribution and transformation in the environment|volume=7 |pages=165–229|isbn=978-1-84755-177-1|pmid=20877808|doi=10.1039/9781849730822-00165|series=Metal Ions in Life Sciences}}</ref> For example, the mold ''[[Scopulariopsis brevicaulis]]'' produces [[trimethylarsine]] if inorganic arsenic is present.<ref>{{cite journal |first1 = Ronald |last1 = Bentley |last2 = Chasteen |first2 = T.G. |year = 2002 |title = Microbial methylation of metalloids: Arsenic, antimony, and bismuth |journal = Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews |volume = 66 |issue = 2 |pages = 250–271 |doi = 10.1128/MMBR.66.2.250-271.2002 |pmid = 12040126 |pmc = 120786}}</ref> The organic compound [[arsenobetaine]] is found in some marine foods such as fish and algae, and also in mushrooms in larger concentrations. The average person's intake is about 10–50&nbsp;μg/day. Values about 1000&nbsp;μg are not unusual following consumption of fish or mushrooms, but there is little danger in eating fish because this arsenic compound is nearly non-toxic.<ref>{{cite journal |first1 = William R. |last1 = Cullen |last2 = Reimer |first2 = Kenneth J. |year = 1989 | title = Arsenic speciation in the environment |journal = Chemical Reviews |volume = 89|issue = 4|pages =713–764|doi = 10.1021/cr00094a002 |hdl = 10214/2162|hdl-access = free}}</ref>