Transcription patterns of genes encoding four metallothionein homologs in Daphnia pulex exposed to copper and cadmium are time- and homolog-dependent.

ABSTRACT: Metallothioneins are proteins that play an essential role in metal homeostasis and detoxification in nearly all organisms studied to date. Yet discrepancies between outcomes of chronic and acute exposure experiments hamper the understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of their isoforms following metal exposure. Here, we investigated transcriptional differences among four identified homologs (mt1-mt4) in Daphnia pulex exposed across time to copper and cadmium relative to a control. Transcriptional upregulation of mt1 and mt3 was detected on day four following exposure to cadmium, whereas that of mt2 and mt4 was detected on day two and day eight following exposure to copper. These results confirm temporal and metal-specific differences in the transcriptional induction of genes encoding meta

SUBMITTER: Asselman J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3891374 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature