Characteristics of cell growth and heavymetal adsorption by recombinant Saccharomyus cerevisiae strains harboring multiple copies of the CUP1 gene encoding metallothione (MT) protein were studied in batch cultures. Recombinant S. cerevisiae strains harboring multiple copies of the CUP1 gene were superior to the host and wild-type yeast strains in terms of cell growth and heavy metal removal, indicating that the copy number of the CUP1 gene for MT expression played an important role in the adsorption of heavy metals. It was suggested that the CUP1 promoter for the MT expression is induced by manganese and zinc as well as copper An optimum copper concentration for MT expression and concomitant adsorption of heavy metals by recombinant S. cerevisiae was found to be 0.31 mM. A nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 enhanced cell growth by 17.7% and removal of zinc by 6.1% compared with the control case.