Home > Articles > Published articles > Metal-specificity divergence between Metallothioneins of Nerita peloronta (Neritimorpha, Gastropoda) sets the starting point for a novel chemical MT classification proposal |
Date: | 2021 |
Abstract: | Metallothioneins' (MTs) biological function has been a matter of debate since their discovery. The importance to categorize these cysteine-rich proteins with high coordinating capacity into a specific group led to numerous classification proposals. We proposed a classification based on their metal-binding abilities, gradually sorting them from those with high selectivity towards Zn/Cd to those that are Cu-specific. However, the study of the NpeMT1 and NpeMT2isoforms of Nerita peloronta, has put a new perspective on this classification. N. peloronta has been chosen as a representative mollusk to elucidate the metal-binding abilities of Neritimorpha MTs, an order without any MTs characterized recently. Both isoforms have been recombinantly synthesized in cultures supplemented with ZnII, CdII, or CuII, and the purified metal-MT complexes have been thoroughly characterized by spectroscopic and spectrometric methods, leading to results that confirmed that Neritimorpha share Cd-selective MTs with Caenogastropoda and Heterobranchia, solving a so far unresolved question. NpeMTs show high coordinating preferences towards divalent metal ions, although one of them (NpeMT1) shares features with the so-called genuine Zn-thioneins, while the other (NpeMT2) exhibits a higher preference for Cd. The dissimilarities between the two isoforms let a window open to a new proposal of chemical MT classification. |
Grants: | Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2015-67358-C2-2-P Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2015-67358-C2-1-P Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-864 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-1665 |
Rights: | Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. |
Language: | Anglès |
Document: | Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada |
Subject: | Biochemical classification ; Cd-selective ; Metallothioneins ; Neritimorpha |
Published in: | International journal of molecular sciences, Vol. 22, Issue 23 (December 2021) , art. 13114, ISSN 1422-0067 |
14 p, 2.0 MB |