Abstract:In this study, a 132-bp sequence corresponding to a 44-amino acid sequence of metallothionein gene was obtained, and then a quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay was developed for quantification of MT mRNA normalized to β-actin in redeye mullets. The method was applied to detect MT mRNA expression in redeye mullets from Nandaihe and Dashentang in Bohai Bay, and the results showed that MT mRNA expression in redeye mullets was higher significantly from Nandaihe (0.012 ± 0.0064 copies/copy β-actin in males and 0.0099 ± 0.0042 copies/copy β-actin in females) than that from Dashentang (0.0017 ± 0.0011 copies/copy β-actin in males and 0.0014 ± 0.00095 copies/copy β-actin in females) which was consistent with the heavy metals concentrations, indicating that MT mRNA can be a promising biomarker for monitoring metals pollutions in coastal environment.