Cloning of Metallotionein cDNAs and Its Gene in Shore Crab(Carcinus maenas).

Metallothioneins are cysteine-rich proteins which chelate metal ion(Zn, Cu, Hg and Cd)and regulate ion concentrations in animal body. Based on the published amino acid sequence of C.maenas metallothionein, completely degenerated PCR primers were designed and two different types of cDNA were amplified from gill tissue RNA of C.