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Isolation and characterization of a metallothionein-1 protein in Chloris virgata Swartz that enhances stress tolerances to oxidative, salinity and carbonate stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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Abstract

Chloris virgata Swartz (C. virgata) is a gramineous wild plant that is found in alkaline soil areas in northeast China and is highly tolerant to carbonate stress. We constructed a cDNA library from C. virgata seedlings treated with NaHCO3, and isolated a type1 metallothionein (MT1) gene (ChlMT1: AB294238) from the library. The amino acid sequence of ChlMT1 contained 12 cysteine residues that constituted the Cys-X-Cys (X = amino acid except Cys) motifs in the N- and C-terminal regions. Northern hybridization showed that expression of ChlMT1 was induced by several abiotic stresses, from salts (NaCl and NaHCO3), a ROS inducer (paraquat), and metals (CuSO4, ZnSO4, and CoCl2). ChlMT1 expression in leaf was induced by 200 mM NaCl and 100 mM NaHCO3. About 5 μM Paraquat, 500 μM Zn2+, and 500 μM Co2+ also induced expression of ChlMT1 in leaf after 6 h, and 100 μM Cu2+ induced it after 24 h. Saccharomyces cerevisiae when transformed with the ChlMT1 gene had dramatically increased tolerances to salts (NaCl and NaHCO3) and ROS.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Grant-in-aid for Scientific Research (18658001) and by a grant from Heiwa Nakajima Foundation to T.T.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asian Natural Environmental Science Center (ANESC), The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Midori-cho, Nishitokyo-shi, Tokyo, 188-0002, Japan

    Shunsaku Nishiuchi & Tetsuo Takano

  2. Alkali Soil Natural Environmental Science Center (ASNESC), Stress Molecular Biology Laboratory, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, P. R. China

    Shenkui Liu

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  1. Shunsaku Nishiuchi
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  2. Shenkui Liu
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  3. Tetsuo Takano
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Correspondence to Tetsuo Takano.

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Nishiuchi, S., Liu, S. & Takano, T. Isolation and characterization of a metallothionein-1 protein in Chloris virgata Swartz that enhances stress tolerances to oxidative, salinity and carbonate stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Biotechnol Lett 29, 1301–1305 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9396-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9396-4

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