Metallothionein 1M (MT1M)

Metallothionein 1M belongs to the metallothionein superfamily. Type 1 family.Class I metallothioneins contain 2 metal-binding domains: four divalent ions are chelated within cluster A of the alpha domain and are coordinated via cysteinyl thiolate bridges to 11 cysteine ligands. Cluster B, the corresponding region within the beta domain, can ligate three divalent ions to 9 cysteines.

Metallothionein (MT) is a family of cysteine-rich, low molecular weight (MW ranging from 3500 to 14000 Da) proteins. MTs have the capacity to bind both physiological (such as zinc, copper, selenium) and xenobiotic (such as cadmium, mercury, silver, arsenic) heavy metals through the thiol group of its cysteine residues, which represents nearly the 30% of its amino acidic residues.