| Comment | SelD, selenophosphate synthase, is the selenium donor protein for both selenocysteine and selenouridine biosynthesis systems, but it occurs also in a few prokaryotes that have neither of those pathways. The method of partial phylogenetic profiling [1], starting from such orphan-selD genomes, identifies this protein as one of those most strongly correlated to SelD occurrence. Its distribution is also well correlated with that of family TIGR03309, a putative accessory protein of labile selenium (non-selenocysteine) enzyme maturation. This family includes the uncharacterized YgeY of Escherichia coli, and belongs to a larger family of metalloenzymes in which some are known peptidases, others enzymes of different types. |
