title: Molecular analyses of the metallothionein gene family in rice (Oryza sativa L.).
abstract: Metallothioneins are a group of low molecular mass and cysteine-rich metal-binding proteins, ubiquitously found in most living organisms. They play an important role in maintaining intracellular metal homeostasis, eliminating metal toxification and protecting against intracellular oxidative damages. Analysis of complete rice genome sequences revealed eleven genes encoding putative metallothionein (OsMT), indicating that OsMTs constitute a small gene family in rice. Expression profiling revealed that each member of the OsMT gene family differs not only in sequence but also in their tissue expression patterns, suggesting that these isoforms may have different functions they perform in specific tissues. On the basis of OsMT structural and phylogenetic analysis, the OsMT family was classified as two classes and class I was subdivided into four types. Additionally, in this paper we also present a complete overview of this family, describing the gene structure, genome localization, upstream regulatory element, and exon/intron organization of each member in order to provide valuable insight into this OsMT gene family.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Protein Science Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Gongke
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yufeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lingyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jin-Yuan
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005091:Exons; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018745:Genome, Plant; D007438:Introns; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D018514:Plant Structures / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000302:isolation & purification; D050436:Regulatory Elements, Transcriptional
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D022821:RNA Splice Sites; D018749:RNA, Plant; D008668:Metallothionein