Antioxid Redox Signal. 2020 Jun 11.
Selenoproteins incorporate the 21st amino acid selenocysteine into their polypeptide chain. Seven members of this family reside in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), controlling the redox and ionic environment to maintain proteostasis. Noteworthy, selenoprotein T (SELENOT) is the only ER-resident selenoprotein whose gene disruption induces embryonic lethality. As expected for essential genes, its structure is remarkably conserved across eukaryotes. Its thioredoxin-like domain supports selenosulfide/disulfide reactions, an oxidoreductase activity which is essential to maintain ER redox homeostasis. Reduction of SELENOT expression in transgenic cell and animal models leads to an accumulation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, depletion of Ca2+ stores, and activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Expectedly, hormone secretion is impaired in endocrine and neuroendocrine cells due to ER stress. When ER stress could not be alleviated, cell viability is compromised. Mechanistically, SELENOT is anchored to the ER membrane and is able to bind the STT3A-type oligosaccharyltransferase complex in order to regulate N-glycan occupancy of specific substrates including glycohormones and GPI-anchored proteins which have key roles in cell adhesion and communication. Given the importance of limiting the ER stress that occurs in different pathologies such as neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, metabolic and immune diseases, further work should be performed to better understand the role of SELENOT, and to design small mimetics such as selenopeptides to improve ER proteostasis and to prevent ER stress. In this review, we present the current state-of-art on the role of SELENOT in ER homeostasis, based on our observations that SELENOT is essential to alleviate ER stress.