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0:00
Ladies and gentlemen,
my name is Matilde Maiorino.
I serve as a professor
of biochemistry in Italy
at the University of Padova.
My main research interest
is focused on the biochemistry
and the physiological function
of glutathione peroxidases.
0:18
In this talk,
you will be introduced
to a brief history of Selenium,
how Selenium
is incorporated into proteins
which are the selenoproteins
in eukaryotes.
I will then focus
on one of them, GPx4,
and I will show you
how the chemistry of GPx4
impacts on cell life
and fertility.
0:44
Selenium was identified
by the Swedish chemist
Berzelius 200 years ago.
It was named after the Greek name
of the moon, Selene.
This was because
the new compound
shared some chemical properties
with Tellurium
which is named after the Latin name
of the Earth, Tellus.
1:07
In this slide, you can perceive
that in the US soil,
Selenium
is not regularly distributed.
Its concentration can change
more than 50 times indeed,
from 0.1 part-per million,
which should be considered
a deficient amount,
to more than 5 part-per million
that is definitely very high.
A similar jeopardized
distribution is observed
in other areas of the world,
for instance, in China.
1:37
Soil Selenium content
controls the amount of Selenium
available in the food.
Selenium enters the food chain
through plants.
Plants of the genus Astragalus,
as you see in this slide,
absorb the element in the soil
and can concentrate
Selenium in their tissue,
returning it to the soil
in a soluble form,
which is readily taken up
by more commonly
raised herbaceous plants.
Selenium rich soil,
is indeed a problem
for grazing animals
that may introduce
too much Selenium.
