JXB Advance Access originally published online on June 18, 2003
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Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 54, No. 389, pp. 1833-1839,
August 1, 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
Phytochelatin synthase (PCS) protein is induced in Brassica juncea leaves after prolonged Cd exposure
Received 19 February 2003; Accepted 2 May 2003
,1
1 Heidelberger Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften, INF 360, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
2 Department of Genetics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
* Both authors contributed equally to the results of this report.
To whom correspondence should be sent. Fax: +49 6221 545859. E-mail: trausch{at}bot.uni-hd.de
Higher plants respond to cadmium exposure with the production of phytochelatins (PCn), small heavy metal binding peptides, which are synthesized from glutathione by phytochelatin synthase (PCS). The isolation of a PCS cDNA clone from Brassica juncea L. cv. Vitasso, a candidate species for phytoremediation, is reported here. CLUSTAL analysis revealed a close relationship of BjPCS1 with PCS proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana and Thlaspi caerulescens. BjPCS1 expressed as recombinant protein in E. coli had PCS activity in vitro that was activated by 50 µM Cu and 200 µM Cd to a similar extent. Immunoblot analysis with an antiserum directed against recombinant BjPCS1 showed constitutive PCS expression during plant development. As a percentage of the total protein, the expression was higher in the roots, internodes and petioles in comparison with the leaf tissue. When B. juncea plants were treated with 25 µM cadmium, PCn accumulated increasingly over a 6 d period. Levels in shoots were about 3-fold higher than in roots. Prolonged cadmium exposure caused a significant increase of PCS protein in leaves, whereas in roots PCS protein levels were not affected.
Key words: Brassica juncea, cadmium, heavy metal, phytochelatin synthase.
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