Genetic control of cadmium tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster.

Files from a transgenic line of Drosophila melanogaster with two copies of the metallothionein allele Mtn3 were more tolerant to cadmium than strains with only one copy of the gene. However, flies with the Mtn3 allele were as tolerant as flies with the Mtn3 allele, despite the level of expression of Mtn3 being three times higher than of Mtn3. We propose that the substitution of Lys-40 (in Mtn3) for Glu-40 (in Mtn1) accounts for a reduction in binding affinity of Mtn1, which offsets the increased expression levels.