A genome-wide nanotoxicology screen of Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants reveals the basis for cadmium sulphide quantum dot tolerance and sensitivity.
The use of cadmium sulphide quantum dots (CdS QDs) is increasing, particularly in the electronics industry. Their size (1-10 nm in diameter) is, however, such that they can be taken up by living cells. Here, a bakers' yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) deletion mutant collection has been exploited to provide a high-throughput means of revealing the genetic basis for tolerance/susceptibility to CdS QD exposure. The deletion of 112 genes, some associated with the abiotic stress response, some with various metabolic processes, some with mitochondrial organization, some with transport and some with DNA repair, reduced the level of tolerance to CdS QDs. A gene ontology analysis highlighted the role of oxidative stress in determining the cellular response. The transformation of sensitive mutants with centromeric plasmids harbouring DNA from a wild type strain restored the wild type growth phenotype when the complemented genes encoded either HSC82, DSK2 or ALD3. The use of these simple eukaryote knock-out mutants for functional toxicogenomic analysis will inform studies focusing on higher organisms.
a Department of Life Sciences , University of Parma , Parma , Italy .
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Marmiroli
a Department of Life Sciences , University of Parma , Parma , Italy .
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Pagano
a Department of Life Sciences , University of Parma , Parma , Italy .
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Pasquali
b IMEM-CNR , Parma , Italy , and.
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Zappettini
c Yeast Molecular Genetics Laboratory, International Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology , Trieste , Italy.
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Tosato
c Yeast Molecular Genetics Laboratory, International Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology , Trieste , Italy.
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Bruschi
a Department of Life Sciences , University of Parma , Parma , Italy .
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Marmiroli
D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*; D004260:DNA Repair; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D009154:Mutation; D009761:Nystatin / Q000494:pharmacology; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D013440:Sulfides / Q000633:toxicity*
D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D013440:Sulfides; C034939:cadmium sulfide; D009761:Nystatin
Barcode yeast mutants; functional toxicology; gene ontology analysis; genetic complementation; yeast transformation