Perego P, Howell S B
Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego 92093, USA.
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1997 Dec;147(2):312-8. doi: 10.1006/taap.1997.8271.
Contamination of the environment has made toxic metal ions a major health issue. The use of yeasts as model systems for the identification of molecular mechanisms that control sensitivity to these agents is particularly attractive because of the ease of genetic manipulation and the availability of the complete Saccharomyces cerevisiae genomic sequence. This paper reviews information on those genes and mechanisms that have been identified in both the budding yeast S. cerevisiae and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe as being capable of modulating sensitivity to important toxic metals. The factors that influence sensitivity to toxic metal ions include cellular thiols (glutathione, phytochelatins, labile sulfide, and metallothioneins) and the products of genes directly and indirectly involved in the transport or sequestration of the metal ion. A complete understanding of the molecular basis of sensitivity to toxic metal ions in lower organisms is expected to provide useful insights in the metal ion detoxification pathways and diseases related to these pathways in humans.
环境污染已使有毒金属离子成为一个重大的健康问题。由于易于进行基因操作以及酿酒酵母完整基因组序列的可得性，利用酵母作为模型系统来鉴定控制对这些物质敏感性的分子机制特别具有吸引力。本文综述了在芽殖酵母酿酒酵母和裂殖酵母粟酒裂殖酵母中已鉴定出的那些能够调节对重要有毒金属敏感性的基因和机制的相关信息。影响对有毒金属离子敏感性的因素包括细胞硫醇（谷胱甘肽、植物螯合肽、不稳定硫化物和金属硫蛋白）以及直接和间接参与金属离子转运或隔离的基因产物。全面了解低等生物对有毒金属离子敏感性的分子基础有望为人类金属离子解毒途径以及与这些途径相关的疾病提供有益的见解。
