The taste of heavy metals: gene regulation by MTF-1.

Biochim Biophys Acta

Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.

Published: September 2012

AI Article Synopsis

  • MTF-1 is a transcription factor that helps cells adapt to stress from heavy metals, hypoxia, and oxidative stress.
  • It activates metallothionein genes, which produce proteins that can detoxify harmful metals and free radicals.
  • The review discusses new insights into how MTF-1 senses heavy metals and activates transcription in both mammals and fruit flies.

Article Abstract

The metal-responsive transcription factor-1 (MTF-1, also termed MRE-binding transcription factor-1 or metal regulatory transcription factor-1) is a pluripotent transcriptional regulator involved in cellular adaptation to various stress conditions, primarily exposure to heavy metals but also to hypoxia or oxidative stress. MTF-1 is evolutionarily conserved from insects to humans and is the main activator of metallothionein genes, which encode small cysteine-rich proteins that can scavenge toxic heavy metals and free radicals. MTF-1 has been suggested to act as an intracellular metal sensor but evidence for direct metal sensing was scarce. Here we review recent advances in our understanding of MTF-1 regulation with a focus on the mechanism underlying heavy metal responsiveness and transcriptional activation mediated by mammalian or Drosophila MTF-1. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cell Biology of Metals.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamcr.2012.01.005DOI Listing

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