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Metallothionein protein evolution: a miniassay

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Abstract

Metallothionein (MT) evolution is one of the most obscure yet fascinating aspects of the study of these atypical metal-binding peptides. The different members of the extremely heterogeneous MT protein superfamily probably evolved through a web of duplication, functional differentiation, and/or convergence events leading to the current scenario, which is particularly hard to interpret in terms of molecular evolution. Difficulties in drawing straight evolutionary relationships are reflected in the lack of definite MT classification criteria. Presently, MTs are categorized either according to a pure taxonomic clustering or depending on their metal binding preferences and specificities. Extremely well documented MT revisions were recently published. But beyond classic approaches, this review of MT protein evolution will bring together new aspects that have seldom been discussed before. Hence, the emergence of life on our planet, since metal ion utilization is accepted to be at the root of the emergence of living organisms, and global trends that underlie structural and functional MT diversification, will be presented. Major efforts are currently being devoted to identifying rules for function-constrained MT evolution that may be applied to different groups of organisms.

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Abbreviations

GYA:

Billion years ago

hlMT:

Horse liver metallothionein

MT:

Metallothionein

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación for its financial support, precisely for the current projects BIO2009-12513-C02-01 to S.A. and BIO2009-12513-C02-02 to M.C.. The authors are members of the Grup de Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya reference 2009SGR-1457 and the COST Action (EU) CM0603 on Free Radicals in Chemical Biology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Química, Facultat de Ciències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08093, Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona), Spain

    Mercè Capdevila

  2. Departament de Genètica, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Sílvia Atrian

Authors
  1. Mercè Capdevila
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  2. Sílvia Atrian
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Correspondence to Sílvia Atrian.

Additional information

This article is part of a JBIC special issue on metallothioneins.

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Capdevila, M., Atrian, S. Metallothionein protein evolution: a miniassay. J Biol Inorg Chem 16, 977–989 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00775-011-0798-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00775-011-0798-3

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