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Engineering tolerance and accumulation of lead and cadmium in transgenic plants

Nature Biotechnology volume 21, pages 914–919 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

We have studied the utility of the yeast protein YCF1, which detoxifies cadmium by transporting it into vacuoles, for the remediation of lead and cadmium contamination. We found that the yeast YCF1-deletion mutant DTY167 was hypersensitive to Pb(II) as compared with wild-type yeast. DTY167 cells overexpressing YCF1 were more resistant to Pb(II) and Cd(II) than were wild-type cells, and accumulated more lead and cadmium. Analysis of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants overexpressing YCF1 showed that YCF1 is functionally active and that the plants have enhanced tolerance of Pb(II) and Cd(II) and accumulated greater amounts of these metals. These results suggest that transgenic plants expressing YCF1 may be useful for phytoremediation of lead and cadmium.

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Figure 1: YCF1 confers Pb(II) and Cd(II) resistance to yeast.
Figure 2: Overexpression of YCF1 in ycf1 yeast grown on Pb(II)- or Cd(II)- containing medium elevates the lead and cadmium contents.
Figure 3: Expression of YCF1 in A. thaliana.
Figure 4: YCF1-transgenic A. thaliana plants show enhanced Pb(II) and Cd(II) resistance.
Figure 5: Lead and cadmium contents in YCF1-transgenic A. thaliana plants.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dennis Thiele for the YCF1-null yeast line and its isogenic wild type, Yu-Young Kim for technical assistance, and Hyun-Soo Kim, Sandra Preveral and Pann-Ghill Suh for help with microscopy. This work was supported by grants awarded to Y.L. from POSCO and the National Research Laboratory Program of the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology, to E.M. from the Bundesamt für Bildung und Wissenschaft (BBW 00.0413; EU project Metallophytes EU Nr QLK3-CT-2000-00479) and the Körber Stiftung, and to I.H. from the Creative Research Initiative Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Korea (M10116000005-02F0000-00310).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Life Sciences, National Research Laboratory for Phytoremediation, Pohang, 790-784, Korea

    Won-Yong Song, Enrico Martinoia, Young-Yell Yang & Youngsook Lee

  2. Center for Plant Intracellular Trafficking, POSTECH, Pohang, 790-784, Korea

    Eun Ju Sohn, Yong Jik Lee & Inwhan Hwang

  3. Institut für Pflanzenbiologie, Universität Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, Zürich, 8008, Switzerland

    Enrico Martinoia & Michal Jasinski

  4. CEA Cadarache, DEVM-LEMS, UMR 163 CEA-CNRS, St Paul Lez Durance, BP 1–F13108, France

    Cyrille Forestier

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  1. Won-Yong Song
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Correspondence to Youngsook Lee.

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The authors have applied for a Patent Cooperation Treaty patent, PCT/KR02/12934, titled “Transgenic organism expressing fungal MRP–like ABC transporters”.

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Song, WY., Ju Sohn, E., Martinoia, E. et al. Engineering tolerance and accumulation of lead and cadmium in transgenic plants. Nat Biotechnol 21, 914–919 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt850

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