Selenocysteine lyase

In enzymology, a selenocysteine lyase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction


 * L-selenocysteine + reduced acceptor $$\rightleftharpoons$$ selenide + L-alanine + acceptor

Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are L-selenocysteine and reduced acceptor, whereas its 3 products are selenide, L-alanine, and acceptor.

This enzyme belongs to the family of lyases, specifically the class of carbon-sulfur lyases. The systematic name of this enzyme class is L-selenocysteine selenide-lyase (L-alanine-forming). Other names in common use include selenocysteine reductase, and selenocysteine beta-lyase. This enzyme participates in selenoamino acid metabolism. It employs one cofactor, pyridoxal phosphate.

Structural studies
As of late 2007, 4 structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes, , , and.