Sephs2 - selenophosphate synthetase 2

This gene encodes an enzyme that catalyzes the production of monoselenophosphate (MSP) from selenide and ATP. MSP is the selenium donor required for synthesis of selenocysteine (Sec), which is co-translationally incorporated into selenoproteins at in-frame UGA codons that normally signal translation termination. The 3' UTRs of selenoprotein mRNAs contain a conserved stem-loop structure, the Sec insertion sequence (SECIS) element, which is necessary for the recognition of UGA as a Sec codon rather than as a stop signal. This protein is itself a selenoprotein containing a Sec residue at its active site, suggesting the existence of an autoregulatory mechanism. It is preferentially expressed in tissues implicated in the synthesis of selenoproteins and in sites of blood cell development. [provided by RefSeq, May 2017]