抄録
Current studies on the gene structure and the control mechanism for gene expression of metallothionein were reviewed. Topics described in this review were i) isolation of c-DNA clones and genomic clones of metallothioneins from human, mouse and several other mammals along with Drosophila and yeast, ii) identification of the two control sequences that separately mediate the induction of metallothionein gene by heavy metals and glucocorticoid in the 5'-flanking sequences of mouse and human metallothionein genes, iii) amplification of metallothionein gene in cadmium resistant cultured cells, iv) determination of a chromosome that encodes metallothionein genes as a multi-gene family, and v) fusion of control sequence of metallothionein gene and structural sequence of foreign gene such as thymidine kinase and growth hormone, and the use of the hybrid plasmid for the induction and expression of foreign gene in mouse.
