The contamination of heavy metals either by natural sources or industrial activities has brought significant deleterious consequences to the environment and organisms’ health. To balance the concentration of toxic metals in the cells, all organisms possess different potential cellular mechanisms such as synthesis of metal binding peptides and proteins. Metallothioneins (MTs), are a superfamily of small (molecular weight 10 KDa) and Cys-rich proteins that can bind heavy metals via the thiol groups of their Cys residues. A total of 13 genes encoding putative MT proteins have been identified in rice ( Oryza sativa ) which are justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; MARGIN: 0in -11.35pt 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; DIRECTION: ltr" Keyword : Rice, Metallothionein, Heavy Metals, Protein Expression, Cloning, Oxidative Stress