Engineering post-translationally modified selenoproteins in E. coli

Talk given by Natalie Krahn (University of Georgia, USA) as part of the International GCE Webinar series. Live talk given on January 18th, 2024. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) occur on amino acids in eukaryotes as a key mechanism for regulating protein function. Studying the role of these modifications in various biological processes has been possible with the advancement of genetic code expansion (GCE) tools in bacteria. Selenoproteins, proteins containing selenocysteine, have essential roles in oxidative stress, immune response, and cell maintenance. The role of PTMs in these processes, however, is unknown because of the added hurdle in biosynthesis of selenoproteins. With our selenocysteine insertion technology and current GCE techniques, we can recode stop codons for insertion of Nε-acetyl-L-lysine and selenocysteine, into multiple proteins.