As one of the key enzymes that maintain the dynamic balance of metal content in animals and take part in the process of heavy metals detoxification, metallothionein (MT) is also associated with the process of immune response. In this study, the full-length metallothionein cDNA sequence of 324 bp from Mytilus coruscus was obtained (named as McMT) with a 222bp ORF encoding 73 amino acid residues in length and its theoretical pI/MW was 7.75/7.21 kDa. Blastp showed that the deduced amino acid sequence of McMT had significant homology with metallothionein from many animals, plants and bacteria, especially with other known MT of mollusca, for example Mytilus edulis and Mytilus galloprovincialis and they fell into the same evolutionary branch. Real-time PCR was used to examine the transcript pattern of McMT in hemocyte, gill, hepatopancreas, gonad, adductor and mantle. The highest transcript level appeared in hepatopancreas, which showed its multiple physiological roles with relation to the tissue type and the maximum expression in hepatopancreas could contribute to detoxification. Under the stress of heavy metal exposure for 15 days, the time-dependent expression pattern of McMT was observed in each treated group, but the highest expression appeared at different times for various concentrations of Cu²⁺ and Pb²⁺. The temporal expression of McMT after bacteria (Vibrio parahemolyticus and Aeromonas hydrophila) challenge firstly rose and then went down, and the expression peak appeared at 4h after V.parahemolyticus infection with 40-fold and 100-fold under A.hydrophila stress at 24h. The results suggested that McMT played a significant role in antioxidation and the expression of McMT can be used as a biomarker for monitoring the situation of marine pollution.

作为维持动物体内金属含量动态平衡并参与重金属解毒过程的关键酶之一，金属硫蛋白（MT）也与免疫应答过程有关。在这项研究中，获得了来自Mytilus coruscus的全长324 bp的金属硫蛋白cDNA序列（命名为McMT），其222 bp的ORF编码了73个氨基酸残基，其理论pI / MW为7.75 / 7.21 kDa。Blastp表明，推导的McMT氨基酸序列与许多动物，植物和细菌的金属硫蛋白具有显着的同源性，特别是与其他已知的软体动物MT，例如可食的Mytilus edulis和Mytilus galloprovincialis他们陷入了同一个进化分支。实时荧光定量PCR用于检测血细胞，g，肝胰腺，性腺，内收肌和套膜中McMT的转录模式。最高的转录水平出现在肝胰腺中，这表明其与组织类型有关的多种生理作用，并且在肝胰腺中的最大表达可能有助于排毒。在重金属暴露15天的胁迫下，在每个处理组中均观察到了McMT的时间依赖性表达模式，但是对于不同浓度的Cu ²⁺和Pb ^2+，在不同的时间出现了最高的表达。细菌（副溶血性弧菌和嗜水气单胞菌）之后的McMT的时间表达。）挑战先上升然后下降，并且表达峰，在4小时后出现V.parahemolyticus感染40倍，并在100倍A.hydrophila在24h应力。结果表明，McMT在抗氧化中起着重要作用，McMT的表达可用作监测海洋污染状况的生物标记。