Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) and glutathione peroxidases (Gpxs) provide the majority of peroxides reducing activity in the cytoplasm. Both are peroxidases but differences in the chemical mechanism of reduction of oxidative agents, as well as in the reactivity of the catalytically active residues, confer peculiar features on them. Ultimately, Gpx should be regarded as an efficient peroxides scavenger having a high-reactive selenocysteine (Sec) residue. Prx, by having a low pKa cysteine, is less efficient than Gpx in reduction of peroxides under physiological conditions, but the chemistry of the sulfur together with the peculiar structural arrangement of the active site, in typical Prxs, make it suitable to sense a redox environment and to switch-in-function so as to exert holdase activity under redox-stress conditions. The complex macromolecular assembly would have evolved the chaperone holdase function and the moonlighting behaviour typical of many Prxs.
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December 2014
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Conference Article|
November 17 2014
Selenocysteine robustness versus cysteine versatility: a hypothesis on the evolution of the moonlighting behaviour of peroxiredoxins
Fulvio Saccoccia;
Fulvio Saccoccia
1
*Istituto Pasteur–Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti and Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche “A. Rossi Fanelli”, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (emailfulvio.saccoccia@uniroma1.it).
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Francesco Angelucci;
Francesco Angelucci
†Dipartimento di Medicina clinica, sanità pubblica, scienze della vita e dell’ambiente, Piazzale Salvatore Tommasi 1, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
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Giovanna Boumis;
Giovanna Boumis
*Istituto Pasteur–Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti and Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche “A. Rossi Fanelli”, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
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Gianni Desiato;
Gianni Desiato
*Istituto Pasteur–Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti and Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche “A. Rossi Fanelli”, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
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Adriana E. Miele;
Adriana E. Miele
*Istituto Pasteur–Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti and Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche “A. Rossi Fanelli”, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
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Andrea Bellelli
Andrea Bellelli
*Istituto Pasteur–Fondazione Cenci-Bolognetti and Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche “A. Rossi Fanelli”, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
‡Istituto di Biologia, Medicina Molecolare e Nanobiotecnologie del CNR, Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche “A. Rossi Fanelli”, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
August 04 2014
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2014 Biochemical Society
2014
Biochem Soc Trans (2014) 42 (6): 1768–1772.
Article history
Received:
August 04 2014
Citation
Fulvio Saccoccia, Francesco Angelucci, Giovanna Boumis, Gianni Desiato, Adriana E. Miele, Andrea Bellelli; Selenocysteine robustness versus cysteine versatility: a hypothesis on the evolution of the moonlighting behaviour of peroxiredoxins. Biochem Soc Trans 1 December 2014; 42 (6): 1768–1772. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20140212
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