Imperial College London
Alternate

DrIsabelGarcia Perez

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

Senior Lecturer in Precision and Systems Medicine
 
 
 
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Contact

 

i.garcia-perez

 
 
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Location

 

101Sir Alexander Fleming BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Liebeke:2013:10.1371/journal.pone.0081271,
author = {Liebeke, M and Garcia-Perez, I and Anderson, CJ and Lawlor, AJ and Bennett, MH and Morris, CA and Kille, P and Svendsen, C and Spurgeon, DJ and Bundy, JG},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0081271},
journal = {PLOS One},
title = {Earthworms Produce phytochelatins in Response to Arsenic},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0081271},
volume = {8},
year = {2013}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Phytochelatins are small cysteine-rich non-ribosomal peptides that chelate soft metal and metalloid ions, such ascadmium and arsenic. They are widely produced by plants and microbes; phytochelatin synthase genes are alsopresent in animal species from several different phyla, but there is still little known about whether these genes arefunctional in animals, and if so, whether they are metal-responsive. We analysed phytochelatin production by directchemical analysis in Lumbricus rubellus earthworms exposed to arsenic for a 28 day period, and found that arsenicclearly induced phytochelatin production in a dose-dependent manner. It was necessary to measure thephytochelatin metabolite concentrations directly, as there was no upregulation of phytochelatin synthase geneexpression after 28 days: phytochelatin synthesis appears not to be transcriptionally regulated in animals. A furtheruntargetted metabolomic analysis also found changes in metabolites associated with the transsulfuration pathway,which channels sulfur flux from methionine for phytochelatin synthesis. There was no evidence of biologicaltransformation of arsenic (e.g. into methylated species) as a result of laboratory arsenic exposure. Finally, wecompared wild populations of earthworms sampled from the field, and found that both arsenic-contaminated andcadmium-contaminated mine site worms had elevated phytochelatin concentrations.
AU  - Liebeke,M
AU  - Garcia-Perez,I
AU  - Anderson,CJ
AU  - Lawlor,AJ
AU  - Bennett,MH
AU  - Morris,CA
AU  - Kille,P
AU  - Svendsen,C
AU  - Spurgeon,DJ
AU  - Bundy,JG
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pone.0081271
PY  - 2013///
SN  - 1932-6203
TI  - Earthworms Produce phytochelatins in Response to Arsenic
T2  - PLOS One
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0081271
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/27268
VL  - 8
ER  -
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