Part:BBa_K2578711

Protein coding sequence for Mouse metallothionein 1 (Mt1)

This is the basic part of the Mus musculus metallothionein 1 synthesizing gene (Mt1). The genomic sequence of the Mt1 gene is referenced from NCBI (Gene ID 17748) [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]

The Mt1 gene’s strong binding affinity with heavy metals including copper, cadmium, mercury and zinc [5], has been proven. It was also shown that Mt1 serves functions as metal homeostasis, metabolism as well as protect cells from oxidative stress of zinc ion in mouse liver [5,6]. Therefore, it is highly possible that MT1 chelates heavy metal ions.

The part is the gene of interest of the composite part BBa_K2578710.However, we failed to submit the part to the iGEM community as there are multiple restriction enzyme site and introns in the gene of interest. Therefore, there is an incompletion in the subproject on the Mt1 gene.