Evaluation of physiological importance of metallothionein protein expressed by Tetrahymena cadmium metallothionein 1 (TMCd1) gene in Escherichia coli

TMCd1 is a cadmium inducible metallothionein (MT) gene. In the present study the TMCd1 gene of a ciliate protozoan has been expressed in E. coli and the function of the expressed TMCd1 protein as a metal-binding protein has been evaluated. The growth of E. coli cells expressing the GST fused TMCd1 proteins in the presence of cadmium metal clearly demonstrated the role of TMCd1 as a metal-binding protein. The metal accumulation experiments showed that the bacterial cells expressing the functional TMCd1 protein accumulated 19-fold more cadmium in contrast to control cells that lacked the TMCd1 protein expression. The results clearly demonstrate a physiological role of full length TMCd1 protein of a ciliate, expressed in E. coli, in cadmium metal sequestration and detoxification.