Isolation and characterization of a metallothionein-1 protein in Chloris virgata Swartz that enhances stress tolerances to oxidative, salinity and carbonate stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Biotechnol Lett. 2007 Aug;29(8):1301-5. doi: 10.1007/s10529-007-9396-4. Epub 2007 May 22.

Abstract

Chloris virgata Swartz (C. virgata) is a gramineous wild plant that is found in alkaline soil areas in northeast China and is highly tolerant to carbonate stress. We constructed a cDNA library from C. virgata seedlings treated with NaHCO(3), and isolated a type 1 metallothionein (MT1) gene (ChlMT1: AB294238) from the library. The amino acid sequence of ChlMT1 contained 12 cysteine residues that constituted the Cys-X-Cys (X = amino acid except Cys) motifs in the N- and C-terminal regions. Northern hybridization showed that expression of ChlMT1 was induced by several abiotic stresses, from salts (NaCl and NaHCO(3)), a ROS inducer (paraquat), and metals (CuSO(4), ZnSO(4), and CoCl(2)). ChlMT1 expression in leaf was induced by 200 mM NaCl and 100 mM NaHCO(3). About 5 microM Paraquat, 500 microM Zn(2+), and 500 microM Co(2+) also induced expression of ChlMT1 in leaf after 6 h, and 100 microM Cu(2+) induced it after 24 h. Saccharomyces cerevisiae when transformed with the ChlMT1 gene had dramatically increased tolerances to salts (NaCl and NaHCO(3)) and ROS.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Carbon / chemistry
  • Metallothionein / chemistry*
  • Metallothionein / genetics
  • Metallothionein / isolation & purification*
  • Models, Genetic
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Oxygen / metabolism
  • Plant Leaves / metabolism
  • Plants / metabolism*
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism*
  • Salts / chemistry
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Sodium Chloride / chemistry

Substances

  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Salts
  • Sodium Chloride
  • Carbon
  • Metallothionein
  • Oxygen