Abstract
We have been isolating and characterizing heavy metal stress related three genes, bxa1, bmtA and bxmR, derived from O. brevis. Further studies for characterization of gene function of the bxa1 were performed using yeast transformants in this study.
Sensitivity test for various metal stresses (Cu, Co, Zn, and Cd) indicated that bxa1 transformant was more sensitive to Cd than a control strain carrying a vector DNA. Another sensitivity test for Cd using nine of metal stress sensitive yeast null mutants indicated that two mutants, smf3- and ycf1-, were sensitive to Cd. Both of these mutants carrying the bxa1 were more sensitive to Cd, compared with their parental null mutants. Our result implies that higher accumulation of Cd have occurred in these bxa1 transformants than their parental strains.
We are now constructing a transformant carrying bxa1::GFP fusion gene to determine the localization of this protein within yeast cell.
