Selenoprotein biosynthesis in Archaea (Selenoprotein Biosynthese in Archaea)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. August Böck
• Subject Area: Biochemistry
• Term: from 2000 to 2003
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5241564

Archaeal selenocysteine insertion into polypeptides is directed by an mRNA element (SECIS) located in the 3' non-translated region and thus can be studied as a model for the eukaryal system. It has been discovered recently that the function of the bacterial SelB in selenoprotein synthesis is distributed over at least two proteins in an archaeon, one binding to the SECIS and the other one functioning as the specialized translation factor. This proposal aims at (i) the purification of the SECIS binding protein, (ii) the study of its interaction with the SECIS and the specialized translation factor, (iii) the construction of knock-out mutants for these genes and correlating thus the biochemical results with the in vivo function, and (iv) the mapping of the transcripts of an archaeal operon coding for four selenoproteins. The results obtained are to shed light on the mechanism of 3'-SECIS directed selenocysteine insertion.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1087: Selenoproteine - Biochemische Grundlagen und klinische Bedeutung