A peptide corresponding to the alpha-domain of rat liver metallothionein-2 was chemically synthesized employing the solid phase peptide synthesis technique. Its luminescence properties that depend on the coordinated Cu(I) have been studied using luminescence spectrometric titration in the presence of Cu(I). Unlike the intact metallothionein which has been converted into the Cu species, the emis...

Three members of the human metallothionein-I gene family have been cloned and characterized. Two of the genes encode closely related but distinct metallothionein-I subtypes. Both of these genes are functional as shown by their transcription in cultured hepatoblastoma cells and by their ability to render transfected cells resistant to cadmium toxicity. The cotranscription of these nonallelic gen...

Oral leukoplakia (OL) is the most common potentially malignant lesions of the oral cavity and Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts more than 95% of all malignant neoplasms in the oral cavity. Therefore, the aim of this study to report the immunoexpression of metallothionein in dysplastic lesions to correlate with histological grade and OSCC. Samples of 5 normal oral mucosa, 15 dysplasti...

An isolated rat hepatocyte preparation was used to study the cellular toxicity of cadmium and the protective effects of metallothionein on cadmium-induced toxicity. Exposure of primary suspension cultures of isolated rat hepatocytes to Cd2+ (0-35.7 microM) for 15 min resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in the synthesis of cellular proteins during a subsequent 6 h incubation. Such inhibition ...

A Drosophila melanogaster cDNA clone was isolated based on its more intense hybridization to RNA sequences from copper-fed larvae than from control larval RNA. This clone showed strong hybridization to mouse metallothionein I cDNA at reduced stringency. Its nucleotide sequence includes an open reading segment which codes for a 40-amino acid protein; this protein is identified as metallothionein...

Fibroblasts from infants with Menkes kinky hair syndrome, which accumulate excessive quantities of copper, are thought to represent a disorder of copper storage or transport. Because of this abnormality, it was thought that they might provide a useful system for investigation of the presumed storage or transport protein metallothionein. Data are presented which are consistent with defective cop...

We have designed a streptavidin-metallothionein chimeric protein in which the streptavidin moiety provides a means of binding the metallothionein moiety tightly to specific biological targets. A gene fusion of streptavidin with mouse metallothionein I was efficiently expressed in Escherichia coli, and the expressed chimeric protein was purified to homogeneity by a simple procedure. The purified...

Cadmium taken up from lung and gastrointestinal tract is transported via blood to liver and kidney. On long-term exposure to cadmium, renal tubular dysfunction develops in humans and experimental animals. Data from animal experiments demonstrate that initially after exposure cadmium in blood is bound to albumin and proteins with higher molecular weight. Such cadmium is mainly taken up in liver....

Metallothionein are small, cysteine-rich, metal-binding proteins that are found ubiquitously in nature. Most metallothioneins bind multiple metals in two well-defined metal-thiolate clusters. This perspective discusses the use of optical spectroscopy to study the metalation of metallothioneins and the emergence of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry as a means of studying the mechanism of...

The effects of some methyl-containing compounds added to a choline-deficient diet on the metallothionein mRNA level in the rat liver were studied. The addition of choline or carnitine to the choline-deficient diet did not induce a gain in body weight, while the addition of either betaine or methionine to the choline-deficient diet, or of methionine to the choline-deficient diet with choline sig...