Properties of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cadmium-binding peptide(s). Unique non-metallothionein cadmium ligands.

The chemical and physical characteristics of Cd-binding peptides isolated from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) leaves and suspension-cultured tobacco cells were determined and compared with properties of rat liver Cd,Zn-thionein. Some emphasis was placed on metal-binding and specificity properties. Cd-peptides of apparent Mr 6000 and 2000 were induced in tobacco leaves by growth of plants with 90 microM-Cd. Only the apparent-Mr-2000 Cd-peptide was induced in the leaves of tobacco plants grown in the presence of 3 microM-Cd. In cultured tobacco cells exposed to a wide range of Cd levels (3-180 microM), a peptide of apparent Mr 2000 was observed. Under denaturing conditions [6 M-guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) with or without 100 mM-2-mercaptoethanol], all of the above forms were shown to have an Mr of approx. 1300, compared with an Mr of 6000 for Cd,Zn-thionein. The apparent disaggregation of the Mr-6000 form by GdmCl to what appears to be the unit Cd-binding peptide was reversible. Tobacco-derived Cd-peptide contained approx. 40, 35 and 15 residues of glutamate/glutamine, cysteine and glycine respectively, with serine, lysine, and aromatic residues being absent. Tobacco Cd-peptide had an isoelectric point (pI) of 3.15, which is lower than the pI greater than or equal to 4 reported for metallothionein. A 50% dissociation of Cd occurred at pH 5 and 3.5 for the tobacco Cd-peptide and Cd,Zn-thionein respectively, and GdmCl was shown to cause Cd dissociation from tobacco peptide, but not from metallothionein. No evidence was obtained for Zn induction in vivo of, or Zn binding in vitro to, tobacco Cd-peptide. Copper induced a low-Mr metal-binding component in cultured tobacco cells which did not appear to be identical with the peptide induced by Cd. Properties of tobacco Cd-peptide and Cd,Zn-thionein, including metal affinity and selectivity, are greatly different, except for the common presence of 30 residues of cysteine/100 residues.