High impact information on mt

• Leukocytes may therefore contribute to and amplify the systemic effects of ultraviolet-induced interleukin-6 and metallothionein expression [1].
• Effects of 17 beta-estradiol on levels and distribution of metallothionein and zinc in squirrelfish [2].
• The deduced amino acid sequence was very similar to other teleost MT [2].
• Cadmium also induced mt expression in all the above regions except the cerebellum [3].
• Electrophoretic mobility shift assay revealed binding of the recombinant MTF-1 in response to Zn and Cd at the putative metal-responsive elements (MREs) in the promoter region of the mt gene [3].

Biological context of mt

• In brain, only mt1, mt2 and c-jun genes were up-regulated after 21 days [4].
• Cloning of zebrafish metallothionein gene and characterization of its gene promoter region in HepG2 cell line [5].
• Metallothionein gene expression in zebrafish embryo-larvae and ZFL cell-line exposed to heavy metal ions [6].
• Both cadmium and copper exposure caused upregulation of MT, regulator of metal homeostasis and detoxification, confirming that the tissues were subjected to metal loads [7].
• During oocyte growth, the changes in the MT level are proportional to metal content, whereas during embryogenesis the pattern of MT accumulation does not parallel that of the two metals [8].

Anatomical context of mt

• Although skeletal muscle was a poor Cd-accumulating tissue, many genes were up-regulated at day 7: mt1, cyt, bax, gadd and rad51 genes [4].
• Indeed, the maternal pool of MT decreases steadily during the early stages of the development until the gastrula stage [8].
• Changes in zinc, copper and metallothionein contents during oocyte growth and early development of the teleost Danio rerio (zebrafish) [8].
• After cadmium exposure, MT content increases in embryos at the blastula stage, whereas no induction occurs in embryos at the gastrula stage [8].

Associations of mt with chemical compounds

• Surprisingly, mt1 and c-jun were the only genes displaying a differential induction after 21 days in liver, although this organ accumulated the highest cadmium concentration [4].
• However, pre-treatment of embryos at the gastrula stage with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine induces MT synthesis following exposure to cadmium [8].
• Whole-mount in situ hybridization showed that Zn induced mt expression in the olfactory pit, cerebellum, ceratobranchials, liver, chloride cells, and neuromasts of the lateral line [3].
• The zebrafish mt gene consists of three exons encoding 60 amino acids with 20 conserved cysteine residues [9].
• Using digoxigenin (DIG)-labeled anti-sense RNA probe, whole-mount in situ hybridization was performed to observe the expression pattern of zebrafish mt gene during embryonic and early larval stages [9].

Other interactions of mt

• Our previous reports have shown the basal expression of metallothionein (mt) and MTF-I (mtf-1) genes in embryo and early larval stages of zebrafish (Danio rerio) [3].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of mt

• RT-PCR result indicates the maternal contribution of Mt transcripts [9].

References