Research advances of plant metallothioneins

Plant metallothioneins(MTs) are low-molecular weight proteins with rich cysteine, and can bind metal-ions. They are wide -spread in plant kingdom and can be induced by many abiotic factors. The unique characteristics of scavenging ROS (reactive oxygen species) and binding metal-ions make it a hot topic in plant researches. In this paper, the advances in the classification, genetic structure and regulation, structure, characteristics and application, separation and purification of plant metallothioneins were briefly introduced, as well as detection methods. Besides, some scientific problems in the research were listed, and the landscape of plant metallothioneins research was prospected.