Maciaszczyk-Dziubinska Ewa, Wawrzycka Donata, Wysocki Robert
Department of Genetics and Cell Physiology, Institute of Plant Biology, University of Wroclaw, Kanonia 6/8, 50-328 Wroclaw, Poland.
Int J Mol Sci. 2012;13(3):3527-3548. doi: 10.3390/ijms13033527. Epub 2012 Mar 15.
Arsenic and antimony are toxic metalloids, naturally present in the environment and all organisms have developed pathways for their detoxification. The most effective metalloid tolerance systems in eukaryotes include downregulation of metalloid uptake, efflux out of the cell, and complexation with phytochelatin or glutathione followed by sequestration into the vacuole. Understanding of arsenic and antimony transport system is of high importance due to the increasing usage of arsenic-based drugs in the treatment of certain types of cancer and diseases caused by protozoan parasites as well as for the development of bio- and phytoremediation strategies for metalloid polluted areas. However, in contrast to prokaryotes, the knowledge about specific transporters of arsenic and antimony and the mechanisms of metalloid transport in eukaryotes has been very limited for a long time. Here, we review the recent advances in understanding of arsenic and antimony transport pathways in eukaryotes, including a dual role of aquaglyceroporins in uptake and efflux of metalloids, elucidation of arsenic transport mechanism by the yeast Acr3 transporter and its role in arsenic hyperaccumulation in ferns, identification of vacuolar transporters of arsenic-phytochelatin complexes in plants and forms of arsenic substrates recognized by mammalian ABC transporters.
砷和锑是有毒类金属，天然存在于环境中，所有生物都已形成了对它们的解毒途径。真核生物中最有效的类金属耐受系统包括下调类金属摄取、将其排出细胞外，以及与植物螯合肽或谷胱甘肽络合，随后将其隔离到液泡中。由于含砷药物在治疗某些类型癌症和原生动物寄生虫引起的疾病中的使用不断增加，以及为类金属污染地区开发生物修复和植物修复策略，了解砷和锑的转运系统非常重要。然而，与原核生物相比，长期以来，关于真核生物中砷和锑的特定转运体以及类金属转运机制的知识非常有限。在这里，我们综述了真核生物中砷和锑转运途径的最新研究进展，包括水甘油通道蛋白在类金属摄取和排出中的双重作用、酵母Acr3转运体对砷转运机制的阐明及其在蕨类植物砷超积累中的作用、植物中砷-植物螯合肽复合物液泡转运体的鉴定以及哺乳动物ABC转运体识别的砷底物形式。
