SelenoDB 1.0 : a database of selenoprotein genes, proteins and SECIS elements

Selenoproteins are a diverse group of proteinsusually misidentified and misannotated in sequencedatabases. The presence of an in-frame UGA (stop)codon in the coding sequence of selenoproteingenes precludes their identification and correctannotation. The in-frame UGA codons are recodedto cotranslationally incorporate selenocysteine,a rare selenium-containing amino acid. The developmentof ad hoc experimental and, more recently,computational approaches have allowed the efficientidentification and characterization of theselenoproteomes of a growing number of species.Today, dozens of selenoprotein families have beendescribed and more are being discovered in recentlysequenced species, but the correct genomic annotationis not available for the majority of thesegenes. SelenoDB is a long-term project that aims toprovide, through the collaborative effort of experimentaland computational researchers, automaticand manually curated annotations of selenoproteingenes, proteins and SECIS elements. Version 1.0 ofthe database includes an initial set of eukaryoticgenomic annotations, with special emphasis on thehuman selenoproteome, for immediate inspectionby selenium researchers or incorporation into moregeneral databases. SelenoDB is freely available athttp://www.selenodb.org.