title: Spectroscopic characterization of rat kidney Hg,Cu-metallothionein.
abstract: Absorption, circular dichroism (CD), magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and emission spectra are reported for rat kidney Hg,Cu-metallothionein isoform 3 isolated following induction of the metallothionein with HgCl2. While the absorption spectrum is featureless, both the CD and MCD spectra show resolved bands that arise from the Cu-thiolate and Hg-thiolate groups. The emission spectrum at 77 K is much more complicated than would be expected for a copper (I)-containing metallothionein. It is suggested the emission only arises from the copper-thiolate groups but that the presence of the mercury results in copper ions in several different environments depending on the nature of the nearest neighbour.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis*; D007668:Kidney / Q000378:metabolism*; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D008667:Metalloproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D051381:Rats; D013053:Spectrophotometry
chemical_list: C038952:Hg-Cu-metallothionein; D008667:Metalloproteins; D003300:Copper; D008668:Metallothionein; D008628:Mercury