Biotechnology of selenocysteine

Abstract

In this chapter we describe strategies to produce synthetic selenoproteins, with a focus on recombinant selenoprotein production in E. coll. We further discuss the possible use of selenocysteine (Sec) in proteins for biotechnological applications. Such applications are based upon either the introduction of a selenium isotope, with specific characteristics such as high-energy radioactivity (as for 75Se and 73Se) or nuclear spin (77Se), or on the high reactivity of the nucleophilic Sec residue enabling site-specific conjugation-based applications with electrophilic ligands. Utilization of Sec insertion for protein purification or detection purposes has recently been demonstrated in a number of different experimental systems and we envision that further such applications will be developed in the near future.