Patent ID: 7524669

Claim:
An isolated and purified transgenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell comprising: (a) a disrupted ACR3 gene of said yeast cell, wherein the disruption results in a reduction of heavy metal extrusion in the transgenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell as compared to a corresponding wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell; and (b) a recombinant DNA sequence comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid molecule encoding yeast cadmium factor resistance protein Ycf1p, wherein the transgenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell overexpresses Ycf1p as compared to a corresponding wild-type Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell, such that the overexpression of Ycf1p and the reduction of heavy metal extrusion causes the transgenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae to have increased accumulation of at least one heavy metal from the cytosol into vacuoles relative to heavy metal accumulation from the cytosol into vacuoles in a corresponding Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell with a disrupted ACR3 gene but not the recombinant DNA.