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Engineering expression of the heavy metal transporter MerC in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for increased cadmium accumulation

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Abstract

The merC gene from the Tn21-encoded mer operon has potential uses as a molecular tool for bioremediation. It was overexpressed as the fusion proteins MerC-Sso1p or MerC-Vam3p in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-MerC-Sso1p fusion proteins located primarily in the plasma membrane, although some protein was detected in the endoplasmic reticulum. In contrast, GFP-MerC-Vam3p was expressed in the vacuolar membranes. These results suggest that yeast Sso1p and Vam3p are essential for targeting molecules to the plasma and vacuolar membranes, respectively. Significantly more cadmium ions were accumulated by yeast cells expressing MerC-Sso1p than with MerC-Vam3p or control cells. These results suggest that expression of MerC in the plasma membrane may be a particularly promising strategy for improving accumulation of cadmium in yeast.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the late Dr. M. Ikeda for her valuable advice and for the gift of the yeast expression vector pKT10. We thank Mr. Y. Mochizuki for his technical assistance. We also thank Dr. D. Thiele for the YCF-1 null yeast line. This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (No. 21510088) to M. K. from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan. This work was also supported in part by a Kitasato University Research Grant for Young Researchers to M. K.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health and Molecular Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Kitasato University, 5-9-1 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8641, Japan

    Masako Kiyono, Kiyomi Miyahara, Yuka Sone, Ryosuke Nakamura & Kou Sakabe

  2. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Setsunan University, 45-1 Nagaotoge-cho, Hirakata, Osaka, 573-0101, Japan

    Hidemitsu Pan-Hou

  3. Biotechnology Research Center, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Shimpei Uraguchi

Authors
  1. Masako Kiyono
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  2. Kiyomi Miyahara
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  3. Yuka Sone
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  4. Hidemitsu Pan-Hou
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  5. Shimpei Uraguchi
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  6. Ryosuke Nakamura
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  7. Kou Sakabe
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Correspondence to Masako Kiyono.

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Kiyono, M., Miyahara, K., Sone, Y. et al. Engineering expression of the heavy metal transporter MerC in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for increased cadmium accumulation. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 86, 753–759 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2402-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-009-2402-0

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