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Selenium in chemistry and biochemistry in comparison to sulfur
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Ludger A. Wessjohann
Published/Copyright:
October 16, 2007
Abstract
What makes selenoenzymes – seen from a chemist's view – so special that they cannot be substituted by just more analogous or adapted sulfur proteins? This review compiles and compares physicochemical properties of selenium and sulfur, synthetic routes to selenocysteine (Sec) and its peptides, and comparative studies of relevant thiols and selenols and their (mixed) dichalcogens, required to understand the special role of selenium in selenoproteins on the atomic molecular level. The biochemically most relevant differences are the higher polarizability of Se- and the lower pKa of SeH. The latter has a strikingly different pH-dependence than thiols, with selenols being active at much lower pH. Finally, selected typical enzymatic mechanisms which involve selenocysteine are critically discussed, also in view of the authors' own results.
Keywords: disulfide/diselenide/selenenylsulfide interchange; enzyme mechanisms; selenocysteine; selenoproteins; synthesis
Published Online: 2007-10-16
Published in Print: 2007-10-01
©2007 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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- Post-translational processing of selenoprotein P: implications of glycosylation for its utilisation by target cells
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- Towards understanding selenocysteine incorporation into bacterial proteins
- Glutathione- and thioredoxin-related enzymes are modulated by sulfur-containing chemopreventive agents
- B- and T-cell-specific inactivation of thioredoxin reductase 2 does not impair lymphocyte development and maintenance
- Effect of selenium on thioredoxin reductase activity in Txnrd1 or Txnrd2 hemizygous mice
- Influence of pH and flanking serine on the redox potential of S-S and S-Se bridges of Cys-Cys and Cys-Sec peptides
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Keywords for this article
disulfide/diselenide/selenenylsulfide interchange;
enzyme mechanisms;
selenocysteine;
selenoproteins;
synthesis
Articles in the same Issue
- Selenoproteins – biochemistry and clinical relevance
- Selenium in mammalian spermiogenesis
- Selenium in chemistry and biochemistry in comparison to sulfur
- Molecular biology of glutathione peroxidase 4: from genomic structure to developmental expression and neural function
- Physiological role of phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase in mammals
- Activation of the glutathione peroxidase 2 (GPx2) promoter by β-catenin
- Effect of age on sexually dimorphic selenoprotein expression in mice
- Post-translational processing of selenoprotein P: implications of glycosylation for its utilisation by target cells
- Selenoproteins of the thyroid gland: expression, localization and possible function of glutathione peroxidase 3
- Towards understanding selenocysteine incorporation into bacterial proteins
- Glutathione- and thioredoxin-related enzymes are modulated by sulfur-containing chemopreventive agents
- B- and T-cell-specific inactivation of thioredoxin reductase 2 does not impair lymphocyte development and maintenance
- Effect of selenium on thioredoxin reductase activity in Txnrd1 or Txnrd2 hemizygous mice
- Influence of pH and flanking serine on the redox potential of S-S and S-Se bridges of Cys-Cys and Cys-Sec peptides
- An essential role for Pin1 in Xenopus laevis embryonic development revealed by specific inhibitors
- Glucocorticoid receptor-mediated expression of kallikrein 10 in human breast cancer cell lines
