A tale of two toxicities: malformed selenoproteins and oxidative stress both contribute to selenium stress in plants
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Despite selenium's toxicity in plants at higher levels, crops supply most of the essential dietary selenium in humans. In plants, inorganic selenium can be assimilated into selenocysteine, which can replace cysteine in proteins. Selenium toxicity in plants has been attributed to the formation of non-specific selenoproteins. However, this paradigm can be challenged now that there is increasingly abundant evidence suggesting that selenium-induced oxidative stress also contributes to toxicity in plants. SCOPE: This Botanical Briefing summarizes the evidence indicating that selenium toxicity in plants is attributable to both the accumulation of non-specific selenoproteins and selenium-induced oxidative stress. Evidence is also presented to substantiate the claim that inadvertent selenocysteine replacement probably impairs or misfolds proteins, which supports the malformed selenoprotein hypothesis. The possible physiological ramifications of selenoproteins and selenium-induced oxidative stress are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Malformed selenoproteins and oxidative stress are two distinct types of stress that drive selenium toxicity in plants and could impact cellular processes in plants that have yet to be thoroughly explored. Although challenging, deciphering whether the extent of selenium toxicity in plants is imparted by selenoproteins or oxidative stress could be helpful in the development of crops with fortified levels of selenium.
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Toxicity mediated by selenium above threshold level exhibits pathological conditions in plants, such as stunted growth, withering, drying of leaves, reduced protein synthesis, and chlorosis.
“Toxicity mediated by Se above threshold level exhibits several pathological conditions in plants, such as stunted growth, withering, drying of leaves, reduced protein synthesis, and chlorosis (Mengel and Kirkby, 1987; Van Hoewyk, 2013; Gupta et al., 2022).”
From Plant hyperaccumulators: a state-of-the-art review on mechanism of heavy metal transport and sequestration (2025) · cites this paper as Van Hoewyk, 2013
The Introduction (page unavailable) says that selenium toxicity above a high tissue concentration can cause stunted root growth and chlorosis. The paper does not identify withering or drying leaves as symptoms, and its discussion of inhibited protein synthesis describes a possibility rather than an established effect. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Van Hoewyk, D.
- Venue
- Annals of Botany
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-07-31
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 965-972
- ISSN
- 0305-7364 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-8290
- PMC
- PMC3783228
- OpenAlex
- W2104911952
- Cited by
- 266
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 7
- FWCI
- 1.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annals of Botany (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0950648)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Selenium in Biological Systems
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Toxicology › Organoselenium and organotellurium chemistry
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Plant Micronutrient Interactions and Effects
- Keywords
- selenium toxicity, selenoproteins, selenocysteine, oxidative stress, protein misfolding, selenium fortification, plant stress physiology
- MeSH terms
- Models, Biological, Plant Proteins, Plants, Selenium, Oxidative Stress, Plant Physiological Phenomena, Selenoproteins
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