Establishment of Tolerance to Both Cadmium and Copper Stress by Expressing Arabidopsis Phytochelatin Synthase in Cu Tolerant Yeast Mutant

Abstract

Phytochelatins (PCs) production by heterologous expression of Arabidopsis PC synthase (PCS) confers tolerance to Cd but sensitivity to Cu in PCS-deficient yeast, Saccharomycea cerevisiae. Due to its sensitivity to Cu, the PCS cannot be used in bioremediation of Cd in Cu contaminated sites, we attempted to solve this problem in the present study and did so by expressing PCS in copper resistant yeast mutants.