• 통합자연과학논문집
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.163-167
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• 2012

UV spectrophotometer was used to detect protein-DNA complex from DNA melting profile under constant temperature increase. Melting temperature (Tm) was $43^{\circ}C$ in copA duplex DNA alone. In the presence of Proteus mirabilis transcription regulator protein (PMTR) protein at 0.2 and 0.4 ${\mu}M$, Tm's were $45{\pm}0.5$ and $47.6{\pm}0.6^{\circ}C$, respectively. According to fluorescence polarization and gel shift assay. PMTR:copA complex was detected by the retarded migration on gel and the dissociation constant ($K_d$) was $(9.2{\pm}2.8){\times}10^{-9}M$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제29권10호
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• pp.1522-1542
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• 2019

To adapt to environmental changes and to maintain cellular homeostasis, microorganisms adjust the intracellular concentrations of biochemical compounds, including metal ions; these are essential for the catalytic function of many enzymes in cells, but excessive amounts of essential metals and heavy metals cause cellular damage. Metal-responsive transcriptional regulators play pivotal roles in metal uptake, pumping out, sequestration, and oxidation or reduction to a less toxic status via regulating the expression of the detoxification-related genes. The sensory and regulatory functions of the metalloregulators have made them as attractive biological parts for synthetic biology, and the exceptional sensitivity and selectivity of metalloregulators toward metal ions have been used in heavy metal biosensors to cope with prevalent heavy metal contamination. Due to their importance, substantial efforts have been made to characterize heavy metal-responsive transcriptional regulators and to develop heavy metal-sensing biosensors. In this review, we summarize the biochemical data for the two major metalloregulator families, SmtB/ArsR and MerR, to describe their metal-binding sites, specific chelating chemistry, and conformational changes. Based on our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms, previously developed metal biosensors are examined to point out their limitations, such as high background noise and a lack of well-characterized biological parts. We discuss several strategies to improve the functionality of the metal biosensors, such as reducing the background noise and amplifying the output signal. From the perspective of making heavy metal biosensors, we suggest that the characterization of novel metalloregulators and the fabrication of exquisitely designed genetic circuits will be required.