Using chemical approaches to study selenoproteins-Focus on thioredoxin reductases

Chemical approaches have also been used to study the enzymatic mechanism of thioredoxin reductase. The approach divides the enzyme into two modules, a large protein module lacking selenocysteine and a small, synthetic selenocysteine-containing peptide. Study of this semisynthetic enzyme has revealed three distinct enzymatic pathways that depend on the properties of the substrate. The enzyme utilizes a macromolecular mechanism for protein substrates, a second mechanism for small molecule substrates and a third pathway for selenium-containing substrates such as selenocystine.