High Impact Metallothioneins, a Diverse Protein Family
ثبت نشده
چکیده
Metal ions are essential for growth, but in excess, these compounds can become highly toxic. Both plants and animals have adapted numerous ways to maintain metal homeostasis while mitigating detrimental effects of excess metals ions, including the metalchelating proteins metallothionein (MT) and phytochelatin. Although phytochelatins have been shown to play an important role in the detoxification of certain heavy metals in both plants and animals, the role of MTs in this process has not been conclusively shown in plants.
منابع مشابه
Diversity and distribution of plant metallothioneins: a review of structure, properties and functions.
More than 30 years have passed since the discovery of the first plant metallothionein in wheat embryos, from which the emergence of a uniquely diverse metallothionein family with a fascinating array of structural nuances and molecular properties has been witnessed. Metallothioneins are not only constitutively expressed, but the production of different types of plant metallothionein is also stim...
متن کاملImpact of heavy metal stress on plants and the role of various defense elements
Heavy metal (HMs) pollution is currently one of the serious issues for the environment and agriculture as it has a direct impact on the production yield. This situation has gained a rapid momentum in the present era due to the population pressure, industrialization, and various anthropogenic activities which in turn lead to oxidative ...
متن کاملCysteine-independent polymerization of metallothioneins in solutions and in crystals.
Polymerization of metallothioneins is one of the usually encountered puzzles during the research process of metallothioneins' structure and function. Our work focuses on the cysteine independently occurred polymerization from metallothioneins monomers in different milieus, while it leaves out the aggregation caused by the oxidation of cysteine, because the latter circumstance is the result of p...
متن کاملIdentification and spatial analysis of metallothioneins expressed by the adult human lens.
PURPOSE Metallothioneins (MTs) are a large family of proteins involved in multiple protective pathways including binding of toxic metals, free radical scavenging, and oxidative stress. Increased expression of the MT IIA gene in age-related cataractous relative to normal human lenses, suggesting a role for MTs in the maintenance of lens transparency, has previously been detected. The MT family c...
متن کاملA new pathway for heavy metal detoxification in animals. Phytochelatin synthase is required for cadmium tolerance in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Increasing emissions of heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, and arsenic into the environment pose an acute problem for all organisms. Considerations of the biochemical basis of heavy metal detoxification in animals have focused exclusively on two classes of peptides, the thiol tripeptide, glutathione (GSH, gamma-Glu-Cys-Gly), and a diverse family of cysteine-rich low molecular weight protein...
متن کامل