Bio/Technology
5, 1053 - 1056 (1987)
doi:10.1038/nbt1087-1053
Mammalian Metallothionein Functions in PlantsDaniel D. Lefebvre1, *, Brian L. Miki1
& Jean-François Laliberté1, ‡
1Genetic Engineering Section, Plant Research Centre, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ontario (Canada) K1A 0C6.
*Present address: Department of Biology, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6.
‡Present address: Institut Armand Frappier, 531 Boul. des Prairies, Ville de Laval, Canada H7N 423. A recombinant cauliflower mosaic virus (Ca-MTII) was constructed by inserting a cDNA clone of Chinese hamster metallothionein II into the open reading frame II of the cloned virus pCa-BB1. Systemically-infected Brassica campestris tissue contained metallothionein at a level of 0.5 percent of the soluble leaf protein. This efficient expression conferred four times the Cd-binding capacity when compared with Ca-BB1 infected leaves. Ca-MTII-infected leaves exposed to 1 mM CdCl2 bound all the free Cd whereas uninfected leaves possessed 43.8 nmol free Cd per milligram of protein. This may be responible for Cd resistance in the Ca-MTII plant cells. Metallothionein is the first mammalian gene product shown to be functional in plants.
REFERENCES
- Kagai, J.H.R. and Nordberg, M. 1979. Metallothionein. Brikhaüser-Verlag, Basel.
- Nielson, K.B., Atkin, C.L. and Winge, D.R. 1985. Distinct metal-binding configurations in metallothionein. J. Biol. Chem. 260: 5342−5350. | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
- Beach, L.R. and Palmiter, R.D. 1981. Amplification of the metallothionein-I gene in cadmium resistant mouse cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78: 2110−2114. | PubMed | ChemPort |
- Karin, M., Cathala, G. and Nguyen-Huu, M. 1983. Expression and regulation of a human metallothionein gene carried on an autonomously replicating shuttle vector. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80: 4040−4044. | PubMed | ChemPort |
- Grill, E., Winnacker, E.-L. and Zenk, M.H. 1985. Phytochelatins: The principal heavy-metal complexing peptides of higher plants. Science 230: 674−676. | ISI | ChemPort |
- Rauser, W.E. 1986. The amount of cadmium associated with Cd-binding protein in roots of Agrostis gigantea, maize, and tomato. Plant Science 43: 85−91. | Article | ISI | ChemPort |
- Van Bruwaene, R., Kirchmann, R. and Impens, R. 1984. Cadmium contamination in agriculture and zootechnology. Experientia 40: 43−51. | PubMed | ChemPort |
- Sherlock, J.C. 1984. Cadmium in foods and the diet. Experientia 40: 152−156. | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
- Brisson, N. and Hohn, T. 1986. Plant virus vectors: cauliflower mosaic virus. Methods Enzymol. 118: 659−668. | Article | ISI | ChemPort |
- Griffith, B.B., Walter, R.A., Enger, M.D., Hildebrand, C.E. and Griffith, J.K. 1983. cDNA cloning and nucleotide sequence comparison of Chinese hamster metallothionein I and II in RNAs. Nucleic Acids Res. 11: 901−910. | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
- Vander Maillie, R.J. and Garvey, J.S. 1979. Radioimmunoasays of metallothioneins. J. Biol. Chem. 254: 8416−8421. | PubMed |
- Cherian, M.G., Nouttainiemi, I. and Nordberg, M. 1983. Comparison of tissue distribution of cadmium in mice intravenously injected with metallothionein and a polymer of metallothionein. Toxicology 26: 161−171. | Article | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
- Hamer, D.H. 1986. Metallothionein. Ann. Rev. Biochem. 55: 913−951. | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
- Hull, R. and Covey, S.N. 1985. Cauliflower mosaic virus: pathways of infection. BioEssays 2: 160−163.
- Deblock, M., Herrera-Estrejla, L., Van Montagu, M., Schell, J. and Zambryski, P. 1984. Expression of foreign genes in regenerated plants and in their progeny. EMBO J. 3: 1681−1689. | ISI | ChemPort |
- Herrera-Estrella, L., Depicker, A., Van Montagu, M. and Schell, J. 1983. Expression of chimaeric genes transferred into plant cells using a Ti-plasmid-derived vector. Nature 303: 209−213. | ChemPort |
- Casterline, J.L. and Barnett, N.M. 1982. Cadmium-binding components in soybean plants. Plant Physiol. 69: 1004−1007. | ISI | ChemPort |
- Rauser, W.E. 1984. Isolation and partial purification of cadmium-binding protein from roots of the grass Agrostis gigantea. Plant Physiol. 74: 1025−1029. | ISI | ChemPort |
- Brisson, N., Paszkowski, J., Penswick, J.R., Gronenborn, B., Potrykus, I. and Hohn, T. 1984. Expression of a bacterial gene in plants by using a viral vector. Nature 310: 511−514. | ISI | ChemPort |
- French, R., Janda, Mi and Ahlquist, P. 1986. Bacterial gene inserted in an engineered RNA virus: efficient expression in monocotyledonous plant cells. Science 231: 1294−1297. | ISI | ChemPort |
- Galun, E. 1981. Plant protoplasts as physiological tools. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 32: 237−266. | Article | ISI | ChemPort |
- Schell, J. and Van Montagu, M. 1983. The Ti plasmids as natural and as practical gene vectors for plants. Bio/Technology 1: 175−180. | ISI | ChemPort |
- Potrykus, I., Shillito, R.D., Saul, M.W. and Paszkowski, J. 1985. Direct gene transfer: state of the art and future potential. Plant Molec. Biol. Rep. 3: 117−128. | ChemPort |
- Reich, T.J., Iyer, V.N., Scobie, B. and Miki, B. 1986. A detailed procedure for the intranuclear microinjection of plant protoplasts. Can. J. Bot. 64: 1255−1258. | ISI |
- Howell, S.H., Walker, L.L. and Dudley, R.K. 1980. Cloned cauliflower mosaic virus DNA infects turnips (Brassica rapa). Science 208: 1265−1267. | ISI | ChemPort |
- Gardner, R.C. and Shepherd, R.J. 1980. A procedure for rapid isolation and analysis of cauliflower mosaic virus DNA. Virology 106: 159−161. | Article | ISI | ChemPort |
- Maniatis, C., Fritsch, E.F. and Sambrook, J. 1982. Molecular cloning, a Laboratory Manual. Cold Spring Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
- McGinnis, W., Garber, R.L., Wirz, J., Kuroiwa, A. and Gehring, W.J. 1984. A homologous protein-coding sequence in Drosophila homeotic genes and its conservation in other metazoans. Cell 37: 403−408. | Article | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
- Weinstock, R., Sweet, R., Weiss, M., Cedar, H. and Axel, R. 1978. Intragenic DNA spacers interrupt the ovalbumin gene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 75: 1299−1303. | PubMed | ChemPort |
- Brower, M.S., Brakel, C.L. and Garry, K. 1985. Immunodetection with streptavidin-acid phosphate complex on western blots. Anal. Biochem. 147: 382−386. | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
- Lowry, O.H., Rosenbrough, N.J., Farr, A.L. and Randall, R.J. 1951. Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent. J. Biol. Chem. 193: 265−275. | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
|
