Advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plants

Phytochelatin (PC), which is produced under catalyzation of phytochelatin synthase (PCS), plays a key role in phytoremediation as its ability of conjugating heavy metal ion in plants. Intensive research on phytochelatin synthase is of great significance to understand the mechanism of heavy metal res...

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Main Authors: MEI Lei, ZHU Ye, XIAO Qinzhi, CHEN Jinhong, ZHU Shuijin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Zhejiang University Press 2018-09-01
Series:浙江大学学报. 农业与生命科学版
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Online Access:https://www.academax.com/doi/10.3785/j.issn.1008-9209.2017.11.091
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author MEI Lei
ZHU Ye
XIAO Qinzhi
CHEN Jinhong
ZHU Shuijin
author_facet MEI Lei
ZHU Ye
XIAO Qinzhi
CHEN Jinhong
ZHU Shuijin
author_sort MEI Lei
collection DOAJ
description Phytochelatin (PC), which is produced under catalyzation of phytochelatin synthase (PCS), plays a key role in phytoremediation as its ability of conjugating heavy metal ion in plants. Intensive research on phytochelatin synthase is of great significance to understand the mechanism of heavy metal resistance in plants, as well as inspires on strategies for creating engineering plants to ameliorate soil contaminated by heavy metal. This review was based on five aspects including bifunctional enzyme property, gene expression and enzymology feature, species distribution and phylogeny, catalytic active center, and activating mode. PCS mainly catalyzes the process of phytochelatin synthesis, as well as acts as peptidase. The gene expression of PCS is constitutive, whereas it can be regulated by heavy metal ion like Cd<sup>2+</sup> in a few species, and PCS is activated by some metal ions in which Cd<sup>2+</sup> is the most effective. It is widely distributed and can be found in organism kingdom such as yeast and nematode besides plants where PCS family members have closer genetic relationship than in other species, which infer its roles in plant’s adaption to environment. The catalytic center of PCS is located at N-terminal, and the three amino acid residues corresponding to Cys70, His183 and Asp201 in cyanobacterium absolutely conserved in all species. The heavy metal activation of PCS is believed to be related to cysteine, including two hypotheses of direct contact activation of heavy metals and formation of indirect intermediates. At the last part of this review, further discussions and prospects are given on multiple functions, gene expression, activating mechanism of PCS, as well as application regarding to the genes, aiming to provide some insights and references for further study.
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spelling doaj-art-d150b2b4785b4e4ba993cdeef35ece222025-08-01T05:30:04ZengZhejiang University Press浙江大学学报. 农业与生命科学版1008-92092097-51552018-09-014453053810.3785/j.issn.1008-9209.2017.11.09110089209Advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plantsMEI LeiZHU YeXIAO QinzhiCHEN JinhongZHU ShuijinPhytochelatin (PC), which is produced under catalyzation of phytochelatin synthase (PCS), plays a key role in phytoremediation as its ability of conjugating heavy metal ion in plants. Intensive research on phytochelatin synthase is of great significance to understand the mechanism of heavy metal resistance in plants, as well as inspires on strategies for creating engineering plants to ameliorate soil contaminated by heavy metal. This review was based on five aspects including bifunctional enzyme property, gene expression and enzymology feature, species distribution and phylogeny, catalytic active center, and activating mode. PCS mainly catalyzes the process of phytochelatin synthesis, as well as acts as peptidase. The gene expression of PCS is constitutive, whereas it can be regulated by heavy metal ion like Cd<sup>2+</sup> in a few species, and PCS is activated by some metal ions in which Cd<sup>2+</sup> is the most effective. It is widely distributed and can be found in organism kingdom such as yeast and nematode besides plants where PCS family members have closer genetic relationship than in other species, which infer its roles in plant’s adaption to environment. The catalytic center of PCS is located at N-terminal, and the three amino acid residues corresponding to Cys70, His183 and Asp201 in cyanobacterium absolutely conserved in all species. The heavy metal activation of PCS is believed to be related to cysteine, including two hypotheses of direct contact activation of heavy metals and formation of indirect intermediates. At the last part of this review, further discussions and prospects are given on multiple functions, gene expression, activating mechanism of PCS, as well as application regarding to the genes, aiming to provide some insights and references for further study.https://www.academax.com/doi/10.3785/j.issn.1008-9209.2017.11.091phytochelatin synthasebifunctional enzymegenetic relationshipgene expression featureactivating mechanism
spellingShingle MEI Lei
ZHU Ye
XIAO Qinzhi
CHEN Jinhong
ZHU Shuijin
Advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plants
浙江大学学报. 农业与生命科学版
phytochelatin synthase
bifunctional enzyme
genetic relationship
gene expression feature
activating mechanism
title Advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plants
title_full Advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plants
title_fullStr Advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plants
title_full_unstemmed Advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plants
title_short Advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plants
title_sort advances in study on phytochelatin synthase in plants
topic phytochelatin synthase
bifunctional enzyme
genetic relationship
gene expression feature
activating mechanism
url https://www.academax.com/doi/10.3785/j.issn.1008-9209.2017.11.091
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AT zhuye advancesinstudyonphytochelatinsynthaseinplants
AT xiaoqinzhi advancesinstudyonphytochelatinsynthaseinplants
AT chenjinhong advancesinstudyonphytochelatinsynthaseinplants
AT zhushuijin advancesinstudyonphytochelatinsynthaseinplants