Expression,Purification,Identification And Crystallization Of Mercuric Ion Transporter

MerC,the mercuric ion transporter on the cell membrane of gram-negative bacteria,it transports the mercuric ions and mercury compounds into cells and reduce the Hg(?)to Hg(0).MerC is a key member of Mer operon,one of the most effective anti-mercury mechanisms that have been developed by the evolution of microorganisms that survived in the environment full of mercury for a long time.As an important type of mercuric ion transporter,compared with the structural characteristics and functions of other mercury transporters,MerC presents a novel folding pattern of four transmembranes and function features which rely on itself to complete transporting of mercury.Moreover,MerC protein can greatly improve the mercury absorption efficiency of plant cells,which is essential in the design of bioremediation system.So MerC is expected to play an important role in the bioremediation of environment polluted by mercury.So the structural biology study of the MerC can not only resolve a kind of brand-new three-dimensional structure of membrane protein,explain the substrate selectivity and molecular mechanism of transporting process about MerC,but also provide the basis of method which can be used in the environment management work of mercury pollution.In this study,we successfully obtained MerC proteins and crystals.The crystal optimization of MerC was carried out by detergents and gradient optimization of conditions.These results are very useful for the research of the structural biology of MerC.What's more,it provides a more solid theoretical basis for the construction of bioreactors for environmental protection and rehabilitation of mercury pollution.