15 kDa selenoprotein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SEP15gene.[5] Two alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been found for this gene.
This gene encodes a selenoprotein, which contains a selenocysteine (Sec) residue at its active site. The selenocysteine is encoded by the UGAcodon that normally signals translation termination. The 3' UTR of selenoprotein genes have a common stem-loop structure, the sec insertion sequence (SECIS), that is necessary for the recognition of UGA as a Sec codon rather than as a stop signal. Studies in mouse suggest that this selenoprotein may have redox function and may be involved in the quality control of protein folding.[5]
Recent studies have shown in mice, where the SEP15 gene has been silenced the mice subsequently became deficient in SEP15 and were able to inhibit the development of colorectal cancer.[7]
The particular structure has an alpha/beta central domain which is actually made up of three alpha helices and a mixed parallel/anti-parallel four-stranded beta-sheet.[6]
Maruyama K, Sugano S (January 1994). "Oligo-capping: a simple method to replace the cap structure of eukaryotic mRNAs with oligoribonucleotides". Gene. 138 (1–2): 171–4. doi:10.1016/0378-1119(94)90802-8. PMID8125298.
Suzuki Y, Yoshitomo-Nakagawa K, Maruyama K, Suyama A, Sugano S (October 1997). "Construction and characterization of a full length-enriched and a 5'-end-enriched cDNA library". Gene. 200 (1–2): 149–56. doi:10.1016/S0378-1119(97)00411-3. PMID9373149.
Kumaraswamy E, Korotkov KV, Diamond AM, Gladyshev VN, Hatfield DL (2002). "Genetic and functional analysis of mammalian Sep15 selenoprotein". Protein Sensors and Reactive Oxygen Species - Part A: Selenoproteins and Thioredoxin. Methods in Enzymology. Vol. 347. pp. 187–97. doi:10.1016/S0076-6879(02)47017-6. ISBN978-0-12-182248-4. PMID11898406.
Wu HJ, Lin C, Zha YY, Yang JG, Zhang MC, Zhang XY, Liang X, Fu M, Wu M (February 2003). "[Redox reactions of Sep15 and its relationship with tumor development]". AI Zheng = Aizheng = Chinese Journal of Cancer. 22 (2): 119–22. PMID12600282.
Gevaert K, Goethals M, Martens L, Van Damme J, Staes A, Thomas GR, Vandekerckhove J (May 2003). "Exploring proteomes and analyzing protein processing by mass spectrometric identification of sorted N-terminal peptides". Nature Biotechnology. 21 (5): 566–9. doi:10.1038/nbt810. PMID12665801. S2CID23783563.
