Abstract: Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element for most organisms and it plays an important role in redox homeostasis and is associated with several major diseases. Previously, much efforts have been devoted to experimental investigation of Se metabolism and functions of different selenoproteins. However, with the rapid increase of omics data in recent years, bioinformatic studies have become more and more important in the research of Se. This review introduced recent advances in investigating the metabolism, functions and evolution of Se by bioinformatic theories and methods. These studies identified a large number of new selenoprotein genes as well as the selenoproteomes in a variety of organisms. On the other hand, new Se metabolic pathways and several new genes involved in Se metabolism and homeostasis were also identified, which greatly improved our understanding of Se metabolic network. Furthermore, comparative genomic studies were carried out, which revealed the general distributions of Se metabolic pathways, selenoprotein families and selenoproteomes as well as their evolutionary patterns. It was expected to provide a foundation for investigating the fundamental questions and future directions of Se research.

Key words: selenoprotein, selenoproteome, selenium metabolism, bioinformatics, comparative genomics

摘要： 硒是大多数生物所必需的微量元素，对维持氧化还原稳态平衡具有重要作用，并与许多重大疾病有着密切联系。一直以来，关于硒的研究工作主要集中于硒代谢机制和硒蛋白功能。近年来快速增长的各类组学数据为硒相关的生物信息学研究工作提供了重要条件与机遇。主要介绍了当前利用生物信息学的理论和方法研究硒的代谢通路、功能和进化等领域的最新进展。通过这些研究，一方面发现了大量新的硒蛋白基因，并确定了众多物种的硒蛋白质组；另一方面揭示了新的硒代谢通路及相关新基因，完善了硒代谢网络。在此基础上，通过比较基因组学分析，深入探讨了硒代谢通路、不同硒蛋白家族乃至硒蛋白质组的分布与进化规律，以期为进一步认识硒研究领域中的重要问题和未来的发展方向提供支持。

关键词: 硒蛋白, 硒蛋白质组, 硒代谢, 生物信息学, 比较基因组学