Identification of the Selenoprotein S Positive UGA Recoding (SPUR) element and its position-dependent activity.

Selenoproteins are a unique class of proteins that contain the 21 amino acid, selenocysteine (Sec). Addition of Sec into a protein is achieved by recoding of the UGA stop codon. All 25 mammalian selenoprotein mRNAs possess a 3' UTR stem-loop structure, the Selenocysteine Insertion Sequence (SECIS), which is required for Sec incorporation.

Identification and Characterization of Proteins that Bind to Selenoprotein 3' UTRs.

This chapter explains the use of RNase-assisted RNA chromatography. RNA affinity chromatography is a powerful technique that is used to isolate and identify proteins that bind to a specific RNA ligand. The RNA of interest is attached to beads before protein lysates are passed over the column.