Purification and characterization of Ag,Zn-superoxide dismutase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae exposed to silver

Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase plays an important role in protecting cells from oxygen toxicity by catalyzing the dismutation of superoxide anion into hydrogen peroxide and oxygen. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase is coregulated with copper-thionein by copper via the transcription factor ACE 1. We demonstrate here that presence of AgNO3 in the culture medium leads to a five times increase of Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase mRNA, with a concomitant six times decrease of the enzyme activity. Susceptibility of yeast to silver was apparently inversely related to Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase activity. From silver-treated yeast a Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase with impaired dismutase function was purified and was shown to contain silver, which was located to the copper site. These data suggest that Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase may play an additional direct role in the defense of S. cerevisiae against metal stress by functioning as metal chelator.