Chan K M
Department of Biochemistry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1994 Nov 30;205(1):368-74. doi: 10.1006/bbrc.1994.2674.
Metallothionein (MT) is believed to be a sensitive and effective "biomarker" for monitoring metal contamination in fish. Comparison of amino acid sequences between flounder MT and trout MT revealed that there is a conserved region at their N-terminals. Using oligonucleotides derived from this conserved region, reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to obtain MT complementary DNAs (cDNAs) from goldfish, Carassius auratus, and tilapia, Tilapia mossambica. These cDNA probes would be useful in developing sensitive PCR-based methods to detect MT gene expression for monitoring metal pollution in local waters.
金属硫蛋白（MT）被认为是监测鱼类金属污染的一种灵敏且有效的“生物标志物”。比目鱼MT和鳟鱼MT的氨基酸序列比较显示，它们的N端存在一个保守区域。利用源自该保守区域的寡核苷酸，进行逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR），以从金鱼（Carassius auratus）和罗非鱼（Tilapia mossambica）中获取MT互补DNA（cDNA）。这些cDNA探针将有助于开发基于PCR的灵敏方法，以检测MT基因表达，从而监测当地水域的金属污染。
