Skip to main content
PMC home page
Plant Physiology logoLink to Plant Physiology
. 1995 Apr;107(4):1059–1066. doi: 10.1104/pp.107.4.1059

Cadmium-sensitive, cad1 mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana are phytochelatin deficient.

R Howden 1, P B Goldsbrough 1, C R Andersen 1, C S Cobbett 1
PMCID: PMC157237  PMID: 7770517

Abstract

An allelic series of cad1, cadmium-sensitive mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana, was isolated. These mutants were sensitive to cadmium to different extents and were deficient in their ability to form cadmium-peptide complexes as detected by gel-filtration chromatography. Each mutant was deficient in its ability to accumulate phytochelatins (PCs) as detected by high-performance liquid chromatography and the amount of PCs accumulated by each mutant correlated with its degree of sensitivity to cadmium. The mutants had wild-type levels of glutathione, the substrate for PC biosynthesis, and in vitro assays demonstrated that each of the mutants was deficient in PC synthase activity. These results demonstrate conclusively the importance of PCs for cadmium tolerance in plants.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (800.0 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Delhaize E., Jackson P. J., Lujan L. D., Robinson N. J. Poly(gamma-glutamylcysteinyl)glycine Synthesis in Datura innoxia and Binding with Cadmium : Role in Cadmium Tolerance. Plant Physiol. 1989 Feb;89(2):700–706. doi: 10.1104/pp.89.2.700. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Dolezal O., Cobbett C. S. Arabinose Kinase-Deficient Mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiol. 1991 Aug;96(4):1255–1260. doi: 10.1104/pp.96.4.1255. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Evans I. M., Gatehouse L. N., Gatehouse J. A., Robinson N. J., Croy R. R. A gene from pea (Pisum sativum L.) with homology to metallothionein genes. FEBS Lett. 1990 Mar 12;262(1):29–32. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(90)80145-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Freedman J. H., Ciriolo M. R., Peisach J. The role of glutathione in copper metabolism and toxicity. J Biol Chem. 1989 Apr 5;264(10):5598–5605. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Grill E., Winnacker E. L., Zenk M. H. Phytochelatins: the principal heavy-metal complexing peptides of higher plants. Science. 1985 Nov 8;230(4726):674–676. doi: 10.1126/science.230.4726.674. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Harmens H., Den Hartog P. R., Bookum WMT., Verkleij JAC. Increased Zinc Tolerance in Silene vulgaris (Moench) Garcke Is Not Due to Increased Production of Phytochelatins. Plant Physiol. 1993 Dec;103(4):1305–1309. doi: 10.1104/pp.103.4.1305. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hayashi Y., Nakagawa C. W., Mutoh N., Isobe M., Goto T. Two pathways in the biosynthesis of cadystins (gamma EC)nG in the cell-free system of the fission yeast. Biochem Cell Biol. 1991 Feb-Mar;69(2-3):115–121. doi: 10.1139/o91-018. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Howden R., Andersen C. R., Goldsbrough P. B., Cobbett C. S. A cadmium-sensitive, glutathione-deficient mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiol. 1995 Apr;107(4):1067–1073. doi: 10.1104/pp.107.4.1067. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Howden R., Cobbett C. S. Cadmium-Sensitive Mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiol. 1992 Sep;100(1):100–107. doi: 10.1104/pp.100.1.100. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jackson P. J., Unkefer C. J., Doolen J. A., Watt K., Robinson N. J. Poly(gamma-glutamylcysteinyl)glycine: its role in cadmium resistance in plant cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Oct;84(19):6619–6623. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.19.6619. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Mendum M. L., Gupta S. C., Goldsbrough P. B. Effect of glutathione on phytochelatin synthesis in tomato cells. Plant Physiol. 1990 Jun;93(2):484–488. doi: 10.1104/pp.93.2.484. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Murasugi A., Wada C., Hayashi Y. Occurrence of acid-labile sulfide in cadmium-binding peptide 1 from fission yeast. J Biochem. 1983 Feb;93(2):661–664. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jbchem.a134222. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mutoh N., Hayashi Y. Isolation of mutants of Schizosaccharomyces pombe unable to synthesize cadystin, small cadmium-binding peptides. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1988 Feb 29;151(1):32–39. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(88)90555-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Reardon J. T., Liljestrand-Golden C. A., Dusenbery R. L., Smith P. D. Molecular Analysis of Diepoxybutane-Induced Mutations at the rosy Locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics. 1987 Feb;115(2):323–331. doi: 10.1093/genetics/115.2.323. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Reese R. N., Wagner G. J. Effects of buthionine sulfoximine on cd-binding Peptide levels in suspension-cultured tobacco cells treated with cd, zn, or cu. Plant Physiol. 1987 Jul;84(3):574–577. doi: 10.1104/pp.84.3.574. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Reese R. N., White C. A., Winge D. R. Cadmium-Sulfide Crystallites in Cd-(gammaEC)(n)G Peptide Complexes from Tomato. Plant Physiol. 1992 Jan;98(1):225–229. doi: 10.1104/pp.98.1.225. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Zhou J., Goldsbrough P. B. Functional homologs of fungal metallothionein genes from Arabidopsis. Plant Cell. 1994 Jun;6(6):875–884. doi: 10.1105/tpc.6.6.875. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. de Framond A. J. A metallothionein-like gene from maize (Zea mays). Cloning and characterization. FEBS Lett. 1991 Sep 23;290(1-2):103–106. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(91)81236-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. de Miranda J. R., Thomas M. A., Thurman D. A., Tomsett A. B. Metallothionein genes from the flowering plant Mimulus guttatus. FEBS Lett. 1990 Jan 29;260(2):277–280. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(90)80122-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Plant Physiology are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES