Cloning and expression of metallothionein cDNA in the hard clam (Meretrix lusoria) upon cadmium exposure

The objective of this study was to determine whether metallothionein (MT) expression was related to Cd accumulation in hard clams (Meretrix lusoria). We cloned clam MT. Then a specific primer for the hard clam was designed for MT mRNA measurements using real-time PCR. The hard clams were exposed to 50, 200, and 1000 μg/L cadmium (Cd) for 1, 3, 5, and 7 days, to determine the relationship between MT mRNA relative quantity (RQ) levels and Cd accumulation. The following results were obtained: (1) the cloned MT, consisting of 228 bp encoding a protein of 76 amino acids showed higher than 55% identity with the deduced amino acid sequence previously published for another bivalve. (2) Both MT mRNA expression and Cd accumulation appeared to be dose-responsive following cadmium treatment for 1, 3 and 5 days, respectively; however, no time-dependent responses were found. According to these results, MT mRNA expression levels can be used as an indicator to monitor the concentrations of Cd in aquaculture farms.