Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Print PDF (3876K)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (38)
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wei, D.
Right arrow Articles by Andrews, G. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wei, D.
Right arrow Articles by Andrews, G. K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nucleic Acids Research, 1988, Vol. 16, No. 2 537-553
© 1988

Articles

Molecular cloning of chicken metallothionein. Deduction of the complete amino add sequence and analysis of expression using cloned cDNA

Deyue Wei and Glen K. Andrews+

Deparment of Biochemistry, University of Kansas Medical Center 39th and Rainbow Blvd, Kansas City, KS 66103, USA

+To whom correspondence should be addressed

Received September 4, 1987. Revised December 10, 1987. Accepted December 10, 1987.

A cDNA library was constructed using RNA isolated from the livers of chickens which had been treated with zinc. This library was screened with a RNA probe complementary to mouse metallothionein-I (MT), and eight chicken MT cDNA clones were obtained. All of the cDNA clones contained nucleotide sequences homologous to regions of the longest (376 bp) cDNA clone. The latter contained an open reading frame of 189 bp, and the deduced amino acid sequence indicates a protein of 63 amino acids of which 20 are cysteine residues. Amino acid composition and partial amino acid sequence analyses of purified chicken MT protein agreed with the amino acid composition and sequence deduced from the cloned cDNA. Amino acid sequence comparisons establish that chicken MT shares extensive homology with mammalian MTs, but is more closely related to the MT-II than to the MT-I isoforms from various mammals. The nucleotide sequence of the coding region of chicken MT shares approximately 70% homology with the consensus sequence for the mammalian MTs. Southern blot analysis of chicken DNA indicates that the chicken MT gene is not a part of a large family of related sequences, but rather is likely to be a unique gene sequence. In the chicken liver, levels of chicken MT mRNA were rapidly induced by metals (Cd2+, Zn2+, Cu2+), glucocorticoids and lipopolysaccharide. MT mRNA was present in low levels in embryonic liver and increased to high levels during the first week after hatching before decreasing again to the basal levels found in adult liver. The results of this study establish that MT is highly conserved between birds and mammals and is regulated in the chicken by agents which also regulate expression of mammalian MT genes. However, in contrast to the mammals, the results suggest the existence of a single isofortn of MT in the chicken.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
L. F. Maxfield, C. D. Fraize, and J. M. Coffin
From The Cover: Relationship between retroviral DNA-integration-site selection and host cell transcription
PNAS, February 1, 2005; 102(5): 1436 - 1441.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.