Serine incorporation into the selenocysteine moiety of glutathione peroxidase.

The selenium in mammalian glutathione peroxidase is present as a selenocysteine ([Se]Cys) moiety incorporated into the peptide backbone 41-47 residues from the N-terminal end. To study the origin of the skeleton of the [Se]Cys moiety, we perfused isolated rat liver with 14C- or 3H-labeled amino acids for 4 h, purified the GSH peroxidase, derivatized the [Se]Cys in GSH peroxidase to carboxymethylselenocysteine ([Se]Cys(Cm)), and determined the amino acid specific activity. Perfusion with [14C]cystine resulted in [14C]cystine incorporation into GSH peroxidase without labeling [Se]Cys(Cm), indicating that cysteine is not a direct precursor for [Se]Cys. [14C]Serine perfusion labeled serine, glycine (the serine hydroxymethyltransferase product), and [Se]Cys(Cm) in purified GSH peroxidase, whereas [3-3H]serine perfusion only labeled serine and [Se]Cys(Cm), thus demonstrating that the [Se]Cys in GSH peroxidase is derived from serine. The similar specific activities of serine and [Se]Cys(Cm) strongly suggest that the precursor pool of serine used for [Se] Cys synthesis is the same or similar to the serine pool used for acylation of seryl-tRNAs.