Two putative selenium binding proteins as modulators of C. elegans stress response and life span

Selenium-binding proteins do not contain selenium in the form of selenocysteine or selenomethionine but as inorganic selenium bound to the protein. The C. elegans genome encodes only one selenocysteine-containing selenoprotein, TrxR-1. However, at least two ORFs encode putative selenium-binding proteins, CeSELENBP1 and CeSELENBP2. These are 54% and 36% homologous to human selenium-binding protein-1 (SELENBP1), respectively, and both contain a...