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Team:Groningen/Project/Accumulation
From 2009.igem.org
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Introduction
Once heavy metals have entered the cell it is key to keep them there. As these metals are toxic to cell survival in critical amounts evolution has provided us with biological detoxicification proteins such as metallothioneins. These proteins can aid us in our quest to accumulate a variaty of heavy metals as they bind to a wide range of metals including cadmium, zinc, mercury, copper, arsenic, silver, etc..
Metallothioneins
Metallothioneins are a class of low molecular-weight metal-binding proteins rich in cysteines residues. They are capable of binding a variety of heavy metals including Hg2+. And they have readily been used to create cell based systems for purification of contaminated water [2][3].
Alternatives
Inclusion bodies[4]
(Bacterio)Ferritins
Phytochelatins
Literature
- Chen et al.: Hg2+ removal by genetically engineered Escherichia coli in a hollow fiber bioreactor, Biotechnology progress 1998;14(5)667-71
- Brady et al.:The use of hollow fiber cross-flow microfiltration in bioaccumulation and continuous removal of heavy metals from solution by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Biotechnology and bioengineering 1994;44(11):1362-6
- Fowler: Intracellular Compartmentation of Metals in Aquatic Organisms: Roles in Mechanisms of Cell injury, Environmental Health Perspectives 1987;71 121-128
