title: Arabidopsis thaliana expresses a second functional phytochelatin synthase.
abstract: Phytochelatins represent a major detoxifying pathway for heavy metals in plants and many other organisms. The Arabidopsis thaliana CAD1 (=AtPCS1) gene encodes a phytochelatin synthase and cad1 mutants are phytochelatin deficient and cadmium hypersensitive. The Arabidopsis genome contains a highly homologous gene, AtPCS2, of which expression and function were studied in order to understand the apparent non-redundancy of the two genes. Low constitutive AtPCS2 expression is detected in all plant organs analyzed. The AtPCS2 gene encodes a functional phytochelatin synthase as shown by expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the complementation of a Schizosaccharomyces pombe phytochelatin synthase knockout strain.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Weinberg 3, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Cazalé
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clemens
mesh_terms: D019881:Aminoacyltransferases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D015870:Gene Expression; D005978:Glutathione; D008667:Metalloproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008670:Metals; D016296:Mutagenesis; D054811:Phytochelatins; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae
chemical_list: D008667:Metalloproteins; D008670:Metals; D010940:Plant Proteins; D054811:Phytochelatins; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases; C093784:glutathione gamma-glutamylcysteinyltransferase; D005978:Glutathione