Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Neurospora crassa contain heavy metal sequestering phytochelatin

Ralf Kneer, Toni M. Kutchan, Andreas Hochberger, Meinhart H. Zenk

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

In fungi, cellular resistance to heavy metal cytotoxicity is mediated either by binding of metal ions to proteins of the metallothionein type or by chelation to phytochelatin-peptides of the general formula (γ-Glu-Cys)n-Gly. Hitherto, only one fungus, Candida glabrata has been shown to contain both metal inactivating systems. Here we show by unambiguous FAB-MS analysis that both a metallothionein-free mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as well as a wildtype strain synthesize phytochelatin (PC2) upon exposure to 250 μM Cd2+ ions. The presence of Zn and/or Cu ions in the nutrient broth also induces PC2 synthesis in this organism. By 109Cd exchange and subsequent monobromobimane fluorescence HPLC, it could be shown that the presence of Cd2+ in the growth medium also induces phytochelatin synthesis in Neurospora crassa, which contains metallothioneins.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)305-310
Number of pages6
JournalArchives of Microbiology
Volume157
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1992

Keywords

  • Heavy metal detoxification
  • Metallothionein
  • Neurospora crassa
  • Phytochelatin
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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