Glutathione Peroxidase 6, Olfactory (GPX6)

GPX6functions in the detoxification of hydrogen peroxide. It contains a selenocysteine residue at its active site. The selenocysteine is encoded by the UGA codon, which normally signals translation termination. The 3' UTR of Sec-containing genes have a common stem-loop structure, the sec insertion sequence, which is necessary for the recognition of UGA as a Sec codon rather than as a stop signal. Expression of this gene is restricted to embryos and adult olfactory epithelium.The GPX6 gene harbors a SECIS element in its 3-prime untranslated region, and the deduced 221-amino acid globular protein contains a sec at position 73, just upstream of an alpha helix. The mouse and rat orthologs of GPX6 have a cys residue in place of the sec residue, and their corresponding genes lack SECIS elements.