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Selenium pp 71–87Cite as

Contribution of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Model to Understand the Mechanisms of Selenium Toxicity

Part of the Molecular and Integrative Toxicology book series (MOLECUL)

Abstract

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element for mammals. It is involved in redox functions as the amino acid selenocysteine, translationally inserted in the active site of a few proteins. However, at high doses it is toxic and the mechanisms underlying this toxicity are poorly understood. Because of the high level of conservation of its genes and pathways with those of higher organisms and the powerful genetic techniques that it offers, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an attractive model organism to study the molecular basis of Se toxicity. High-throughput technologies developed in this yeast include genome-wide screening of bar-coded systematic deletion sets, as well as whole-transcriptome, -proteome, and -metabolome analysis.

This chapter focuses on the contribution of S. cerevisiae to the understanding of the mechanisms of selenocompound toxicity, combining results from classical biochemistry with genome-wide analyses and more detailed gene-by-gene approaches. Experimental data demonstrate that toxicity is compound specific. Inorganic Se induces DNA damage whereas selenoamino acids cause proteotoxicity.

Keywords

  • Selenium
  • Selenomethionine
  • Selenocysteine
  • Selenite
  • Selenide
  • Yeast
  • Genome-wide

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Prof. Sylvain Blanquet for his contribution and constant interest and encouragements over many years.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Biochimie, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91128, Palaiseau Cedex, France

    Myriam Lazard, Marc Dauplais & Pierre Plateau

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  1. Myriam Lazard
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  2. Marc Dauplais
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  3. Pierre Plateau
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Correspondence to Myriam Lazard .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit: Analytical BioGeoChemistry, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health GmbH, Neuherberg, Germany

    Prof. Dr. Bernhard Michalke

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Lazard, M., Dauplais, M., Plateau, P. (2018). Contribution of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Model to Understand the Mechanisms of Selenium Toxicity. In: Michalke, B. (eds) Selenium. Molecular and Integrative Toxicology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95390-8_4

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