Trampczynska, A; Böttcher, C; Clemens, S: The transition metal chelator nicotianamine is synthesized by filamentous fungi, FEBS Letters, 580, 3173-3178 (2006), doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2006.04.073 | |
Abstract: Nicotianamine is an important metal ligand in plants. Surprisingly, recent genome sequencing revealed that ascomycetes encode proteins with similarity to plant nicotianamine synthases (NAS). By expression in a Zn2+-hypersensitive fission yeast mutant we show for a protein from Neurospora crassa that it indeed possesses NAS activity. Using electrospray-ionization-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry we prove the formation of nicotianamine in N. crassa. Transcript level is strongly upregulated under Zn deficiency as shown by real-time PCR. These findings demonstrate that nicotianamine is more widespread in nature than anticipated and provide further evidence for a function of nicotianamine as a cytosolic chelator of Zn2+ ions. |