Evidence that selenium deficiency results in the cytoplasmic decay of GPx1 mRNA dependent on pre-mRNA splicing proteins bound to the mRNA exon-exon junction.

Studies of transcripts for the selenoprotein glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1) have provided remarkable evidence for the coupling of pre-mRNA splicing in the nucleus and mRNA translation in the cytoplasm. Such evidence derives from the initial finding that GPx1 mRNA is a natural substrate of nonsense-mediated decay. Here, recent work on GPx1 RNA metabolism is reviewed and future directions of study are defined.