Structural analysis of chemically synthesized selenophosphate, a donor for selenocysteine biosynthesis

Abstract

Selenophosphate is an important intermediate for selenoprotein synthesis. Despite its biological significance, the existence of selenophosphate in in vivo samples has not been corroborated by instrumental analyses, such as NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. In this study, we synthesized selenophosphate and subjected it to detailed structural analyses, including ³¹P NMR, ⁷⁷Se NMR, and LC-ICP-MS/MS analyses. We confirmed that the structural information of the chemically synthesized selenophosphate was consistent with that of the product biologically synthesized by SelD, a bacterial selenophosphate synthetase. Based on these results, the structure of the SelD product was confirmed.

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