Part:BBa_K2578511

Protein coding sequence for Saccharomyces cerevisiae metallothionein 1 (CUP1)

This part, BBa_K2578511, is the Saccharomyces cerevisiae metallothionein synthesizing gene (CUP1). The genomic sequence is referenced from NCBI (Gene ID 856450) [1].

Metallothioneins are small cysteine-rich proteins made of 61-68 amino acids which can be found in a broad range of organisms, including both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. The metallothioneins are expressed as intracellular protein. [2]

Metallothioneins are mainly responsible for metalloregulation in cells of living organisms. The rich Cysteine domains in metallothioneins allow the non-covalent binding of trace metals such as cadmium(Cd2+), lead(Pb2+), copper(Cu1+), (Cu2+) and mercury(Hg2+), etc. [3,4]

Studies show that the transcription of CUP1 is only induced by copper, instead of other heavy metals. [5] It also shows that the copper-binding property of CUP1 contributes to the metal detoxification in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and leads to its high tolerance in copper-contaminated environment [6]. Early studies have also demonstrated that the CUP1 gene can be efficiently expressed in which made it a promising target of our study. [7]

The part is the gene of interest of the composite part BBa_K2578510. However, we failed to submit it to the iGEM community as IDT failed to synthesise the plasmid due to an insertion mutation. Therefore, there is an incompletion in the subproject on the CUP1 gene.