Discovery of the selenium-containing antioxidant ovoselenol derived from convergent evolution.
Nat Chem
; 2024 Aug 14.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39143299
ABSTRACT
Selenium is an essential micronutrient, but its presence in biology has been limited to protein and nucleic acid biopolymers. The recent identification of a biosynthetic pathway for selenium-containing small molecules suggests that there is a larger family of selenometabolites that remains to be discovered. Here we identify a recently evolved branch of abundant and uncharacterized metalloenzymes that we predict are involved in selenometabolite biosynthesis using a bioinformatic search strategy that relies on the mapping of composite active site motifs. Biochemical studies confirm this prediction and show that these enzymes form an unusual C-Se bond onto histidine, thus giving rise to a distinct selenometabolite and potent antioxidant that we have termed ovoselenol. Aside from providing insights into the evolution of this enzyme class and the structural basis of C-Se bond formation, our work offers a blueprint for charting the microbial selenometabolome in the future.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Chem
/
Nat. chem. (Online)
/
Nature chemistry (Online)
Assunto da revista:
QUIMICA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos