Glutathione Peroxidase and Its Synthesis Mechanism

Glutathione peroxidase(GPx) is a member of antioxidant enzyme family and acts as free radical scavengers using glutathione as reducing substrate,which protect tissues and cells from oxidative damage.Lack of GPx activity in human is associated with a variety of diseases.The efficient antioxidant activity depends on the presence of selenocysteine(Sec) at the catalytic site.However,incorporation of Sec into protein occurs in a peculiar way,and the mechanism differs from prokaryotes to eukaryotes.Thus,it is difficult to directly express recombinant selenium-containing GPx in E.coli.This article reviewed classification,structure,function and biosynthetic mechanism of GPx.And then,different methods for production of selenoproteins were summarized.