Characterization of the Sesbania rostrata Phytochelatin Synthase Gene: Alternative Splicing and Function of Four Isoforms

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

An-Ming Li³  Bing-Yun Yu³  Fu-Hua Chen³  Hui-Yan Gan³  Jian-Gang Yuan³  Rongliang Qiu²  Jun-Chao Huang¹  Zhong-Yi Yang³ 

[1] School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China; E-Mail:;School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China; E-Mail:;State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China; E-Mails:

关键词: alternative splicing;    heavy metal tolerance;    phytochelatin;    phytochelatin synthase;    phytoremediation;    Sesbania rostrata;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms10083269

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Phytochelatins (PCs) play an important role in detoxification of heavy metals in plants. PCs are synthesized from glutathione by phytochelatin synthase (PCS), a dipeptidyltransferase. Sesbania rostrata is a tropical legume plant that can tolerate high concentrations of Cd and Zn. In this study, the S. rostrata PCS gene (SrPCS) and cDNAs were isolated and characterized. Southern blot and sequence analysis revealed that a single copy of the SrPCS gene occurs in the S. rostrata genome, and produces four different SrPCS mRNAs and proteins, SrPCS1–SrPCS4, by alternative splicing of the SrPCS pre-mRNA. The SrPCS1 and SrPCS3 proteins conferred Cd tolerance when expressed in yeast cells, whereas the SrPCS2 and SrPCS4 proteins, which lack the catalytic triad and the N-terminal domains, did not. These results suggested that SrPCS1 and SrPCS3 have potential applications in genetic engineering of plants for enhancing heavy metal tolerance and phytoremediation of contaminated soils.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.