Abstract
The molecular machinery for incorporating selenocysteine into proteins is present in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Although selenocysteine insertion has been reported in animals, plants, and protozoans, known eukaryotic selenocysteine tRNA sequences and selenocysteine insertion sequences are limited to animals and plants. Here we present clear indications of the presence of selenocysteine-tRNA and a selenocysteine insertion sequence in Plasmodium falciparum. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an identification of protozoan selenocysteine insertion machinery at the sequence level.
Publication types
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Letter
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Base Sequence
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DNA Transposable Elements / genetics*
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DNA, Protozoan / genetics*
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Nucleic Acid Conformation
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Plasmodium / genetics
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Plasmodium falciparum / genetics*
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Plasmodium falciparum / metabolism
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Protozoan Proteins / biosynthesis
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Protozoan Proteins / chemistry
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RNA, Protozoan / chemistry
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RNA, Protozoan / genetics*
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RNA, Transfer, Amino Acyl / chemistry
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RNA, Transfer, Amino Acyl / genetics*
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Selenocysteine / metabolism
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Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Substances
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DNA Transposable Elements
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DNA, Protozoan
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Protozoan Proteins
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RNA, Protozoan
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RNA, Transfer, Amino Acyl
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selenocysteinyl-tRNA
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Selenocysteine