Selenium in Biology: Facts and Medical Perspectives
-
Josef Köhrle
Abstract
Several decades after the discovery of selenium as an essential trace element in vertebrates approximately 20 eukaryotic and more than 15 prokaryotic selenoproteins containing the 21st proteinogenic amino acid, selenocysteine, have been identified, partially characterized or cloned from several species. Many of these proteins are involved in redox reactions with selenocysteine acting as an essential component of the catalytic cycle. Enzyme activities have been assigned to the glutathione peroxidase family, to the thioredoxin reductases, which were recently identified as selenoproteins, to the iodothyronine deiodinases, which metabolize thyroid hormones, and to the selenophosphate synthetase 2, which is involved in selenoprotein biosynthesis. Prokaryotic selenoproteins catalyze redox reactions and formation of selenoethers in (stress-induced) metabolism and energy production of E. coli, of the clostridial cluster XI and of other prokaryotes. Apart from the specific and complex biosynthesis of selenocysteine, selenium also reversibly binds to proteins, is incorporated into selenomethionine in bacteria, yeast and higher plants, or posttranslationally modifies a catalytically essential cysteine residue of CO dehydrogenase. Expression of individual eukaryotic selenoproteins exhibits high tissue specificity, depends on selenium availability, in some cases is regulated by hormones, and if impaired contributes to several pathological conditions. Disturbance of selenoprotein expression or function is associated with deficiency syndromes (Keshan and Kashin-Beck disease), might contribute to tumorigenesis and atherosclerosis, is altered in several bacterial and viral infections, and leads to infertility in male rodents.
Copyright © 2000 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
Articles in the same Issue
- Alexander J. Varshavsky Felix Hoppe-Seyler Lecturer 2000
- The Ubiquitin System and the N-End Rule Pathway
- Paper of the Year 1999: Award to Igor Stagljar
- A Clockwork Organ
- The Transgeneticists Toolbox: Novel Methods for the Targeted Modification of Eukaryotic Genomes
- Interdependence of Filamentous Actin and Microtubules for Asymmetric Cell Division
- Genetic Analysis of Mammalian Cyclin-Dependent Kinases and Their Inhibitors
- Phosphorylcholine Substituents in Nematodes: Structures, Occurrence and Biological Implications
- Selenium in Biology: Facts and Medical Perspectives
- The Role of Se, Mo and Fe in the Structure and Function of Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenase
- Molecular Basis for Interactions of the DnaK Chaperone with Substrates
- Protein Import: the Hitchhikers Guide into Chloroplasts
- Pathway Analysis and Metabolic Engineering in Corynebacterium glutamicum
- Metabolic Networks: a Signal-Oriented Approach to Cellular Models
- Representing and Analysing Molecular and Cellular Function Using the Computer
- Protein Aggregation and Pathogenesis of Huntingtons Disease: Mechanisms and Correlations
- The Mitochondrial Protein Import Motor
- The Immunoglobulin κ Gene Families of Human and Mouse: a Cottage Industry Approach
- Protein-Protein Interactions in Receptor Activation and Intracellular Signalling
- Molecular Genetic Analysis of Glucocorticoid Signaling Using the Cre/loxP System
- Macromolecular Intelligence in Microorganisms
- Thyroid Hormone Receptors Bind to an Element in the Connexin43 Promoter
- Analysis of the Deubiquitinating Enzymes of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
- Helical Tubes of FtsZ from Methanococcus jannaschii
- Surface Topography of Microtubule Walls Decorated with Monomeric and Dimeric Kinesin Constructs
- Histone Deacetylase Activity Is Required for the Induction of the MyoD Muscle Cell Lineage in Xenopus
- The Effect of Heat Shock on 20S/26S Proteasomes
- Sec61p Is the Main Ribosome Receptor in the Endoplasmic Reticulum of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Articles in the same Issue
- Alexander J. Varshavsky Felix Hoppe-Seyler Lecturer 2000
- The Ubiquitin System and the N-End Rule Pathway
- Paper of the Year 1999: Award to Igor Stagljar
- A Clockwork Organ
- The Transgeneticists Toolbox: Novel Methods for the Targeted Modification of Eukaryotic Genomes
- Interdependence of Filamentous Actin and Microtubules for Asymmetric Cell Division
- Genetic Analysis of Mammalian Cyclin-Dependent Kinases and Their Inhibitors
- Phosphorylcholine Substituents in Nematodes: Structures, Occurrence and Biological Implications
- Selenium in Biology: Facts and Medical Perspectives
- The Role of Se, Mo and Fe in the Structure and Function of Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenase
- Molecular Basis for Interactions of the DnaK Chaperone with Substrates
- Protein Import: the Hitchhikers Guide into Chloroplasts
- Pathway Analysis and Metabolic Engineering in Corynebacterium glutamicum
- Metabolic Networks: a Signal-Oriented Approach to Cellular Models
- Representing and Analysing Molecular and Cellular Function Using the Computer
- Protein Aggregation and Pathogenesis of Huntingtons Disease: Mechanisms and Correlations
- The Mitochondrial Protein Import Motor
- The Immunoglobulin κ Gene Families of Human and Mouse: a Cottage Industry Approach
- Protein-Protein Interactions in Receptor Activation and Intracellular Signalling
- Molecular Genetic Analysis of Glucocorticoid Signaling Using the Cre/loxP System
- Macromolecular Intelligence in Microorganisms
- Thyroid Hormone Receptors Bind to an Element in the Connexin43 Promoter
- Analysis of the Deubiquitinating Enzymes of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
- Helical Tubes of FtsZ from Methanococcus jannaschii
- Surface Topography of Microtubule Walls Decorated with Monomeric and Dimeric Kinesin Constructs
- Histone Deacetylase Activity Is Required for the Induction of the MyoD Muscle Cell Lineage in Xenopus
- The Effect of Heat Shock on 20S/26S Proteasomes
- Sec61p Is the Main Ribosome Receptor in the Endoplasmic Reticulum of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
