Stability of gastrointestinal glutathione peroxidase mRNA in selenium deficiency depends on its 3'UTR

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wingler, Kirstin | Müller, Cordula | Brigelius-Flohé, Regina

Affiliations: German Institute of Human Nutrition and Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Potsdam, Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Germany

Note: [] German Institute of Human Nutrition, Arthur-Scheunert-Allee 114-116, D-14558 Bergholz-Rehbrücke, Germany. Tel.: +49 33200 88353; Fax: +49 33200 88407; E-mail: Flohe@www.dife.de

Abstract: Selenoproteins decrease upon selenium-deprivation according to their hierarchical ranking. Whereas classical glutathione peroxidase (cGPx) responds to decreased selenium supply with a complete loss of protein and a marked reduction of mRNA levels, gastrointestinal glutathione peroxidase (GI-GPx) remains detectable and its mRNA is stable. The impact of the 3'UTR on cGPx and GI-GPx mRNA stability was studied in stably transfected HepG2 cells with combinations of mutually exchanged coding regions and 3'UTRs of human cGPx and GI-GPx. Stability of chimeric mRNAs was measured by competitive RT-PCR. We found that GI-GPx 3'UTR is sufficient to stabilize its own mRNA but not that of cGPx.

Keywords: selenoproteins, mRNA stability, glutathione peroxidases, selenium

Journal: BioFactors, vol. 14, no. 1-4, pp. 43-50, 2001