Nonsense-mediated decay factors are involved in the regulation of selenoprotein mRNA levels during selenium deficiency

Selenocysteine incorporation: A trump card in the game of mRNA decay

The incorporation of the 21st amino acid, selenocysteine (Sec), occurs on mRNAs that harbor in-frame stop codons because the Sec-tRNA(Sec) recognizes a UGA codon. This sets up an intriguing interplay between translation elongation, translation termination and the complex machinery that marks mRNAs that contain premature termination codons for degradation, leading to nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD). In this review we discuss the intricate and complex relationship between this key quality control mechanism and the process of Sec incorporation in mammals.

Selenium, selenoproteins and neurodegenerative diseases

A review of selenium's essential role in normal brain function and its potential involvement in neurodegenerative diseases.