A second human methionine sulfoxide reductase (hMSRB2) reducing methionine-R-sulfoxide displays a tissue expression pattern distinct from hMSRB1.

Peptide methionine sulfoxide reductases are important enzymes in the defense against cellular oxidative stress as they reduce methionine sulfoxide, the product of methionine oxidation by physiologically relevant reactive oxygen species. Two distinct enzyme classes, MSRA and MSRB, have evolved for selectively reducing the two epimers, methionine-S-sulfoxide and methionine-R-sulfoxide. A new human MSR enzyme (hMSRB2) specifically reducing methionine-R-sulfoxide, which showed a conversion rate for peptide-bound methionine-S-sulfoxide similar to hMSRB1, was characterized with respect to its tissue expression. As previously found for hMSRB1, expression of hMSRB2 mRNA was weak in brain, but strong in heart and skeletal muscle. In contrast to hMSRB1, its expression was high in smooth muscle-containing organs (digestive system, bladder), lung and aorta, while hMSRB1 displayed a higher expression than hMSRB2 in liver and kidney.