SHESTIVSKA Violetta1, KŘÍŽKOVÁ Soňa1, ZÍTKA Ondřej1, MACKOVÁ Martina2,
MACEK Tomáš2,3, KIZEK René1
(1Mendelova univerzita, 2Vysoká škola chemicko-technologická, 3Ústav organické chemie a biochemie AV ČR)
Stanovení metalothioneinu a thiolových sloučenin v transgenním tabáku vystaveném působení CdCl2 Metallothionein and low-molecular thiol compound determination in transgenic tobacco exposed to CdCl2
Environmental pollution by heavy metals is an actual problem. Their cytotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects have been
discovered recently. Phyto or bioremediation are environmental-friendly methods for metals removal from water and soils. Plant
phytoremediation potential is limited by their tolerance to heavy metals, other benefits are metal accumulation in shoots and
production of high amount of biomass. To increase the binding capacity of heavy metals transgenic plants expressing a fusion
protein combining CUP1 gene encoding yeast metallothionein and gene for polyhistidine tag from commercial plasmid pTrc-HisA
(HisCUP), which was transformed via A. tumefaciens into tobacco plants. The aim of this article was to determine metallothionein
content in transgenic tobacco plants exposed to 250 µM CdCl2. A marked MT induction was found in the whole plant, especially
in stem. Change in MT content corresponded to change of low-molecular thiol compounds. The obtained results indicate that
MT is in experimental plants induced by heavy metal and it is involved in plant detoxication mechanisms.