Transcription factors involved in heavy metal regulation of the human metallothionein-IIA gene

Abstract

Transcription of mammalian metallothionein (MT) genes is activated by a variety of metals including zinc, cadmium, copper, mercury, silver and so on [1, 2]. Analysis of control sequences located in the 5’-flanking region of MT genes revealed that a short DNA motif can mediate metal responsiveness [3, 4]. This DNA element, called metal responsive element (MRE), contains a conserved core sequence TGCRCNC (R = purine; N = any base) and a less conserved GC-rich region [5, 6]. The core sequence was reported to be particularly important for mediating metal response [6]. A number of MRE-binding proteins that are assumed to be transcriptional regulators have been described [7]. Recently, cDNA that encodes an MRE-binding factor, mouse MTF-1(mMTF-1), has been isolated [8], and this protein was shown to be essential for metal-induced transcriptional regulation [9].KeywordsMetallothionein GeneMetal ResponseMetal Responsive ElementGene MREaMouse MetallothioneinThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.