ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study was to identify the genes that encode for selenoproteins in the genome of Mus spretus, a wild specie of mouse which resides around the Western Mediterranean. By using homologous comparison between the genome of this specie of Mus and the genomes of Mus Musculus or Homo sapiens, we predicted 43 proteins.


Selenoproteins are part of a family of proteins which are characterized for having the 21st amino acid, Selenocysteine (Sec, U), in its peptidic chain. This amino acid contains a selenium atom which has a relevant function in some cellular processes, such as the activation of the immune response or protection against free radicals. Sec amino acid is encoded under the UGA codon, which also produces the termination of translation. In order to have this amino acid incorporated into proteins, the presence of a RNA secondary structure downstream the codon is needed, known as the SECIS element. As both conditions are needed, the annotation and the prediction of selenoproteins in a genome are complex processes.

In this work, we have produced a bioinformatic program that automatizes the search of selenoporteins in a non-descripted specie, in our case, Mus spretus.