They went on to discover a novel biological mechanism underpinning how selenium is likely to cause this
. They found that selenium causes changes in the activity of enzymes called histone methylatransferases. These enzymes regulate epigenetic processes – how environmental conditions can alter the way genes work. Unlike genetic mutations, epigenetic changes do not change the sequence of DNA and are reversible, but they do change how your body reads a DNA sequence.
This research was carried out by Dr Benoit Toubans, as part of his joint PhD project supported by the Swansea-Grenoble strategic partnership, and Dr Noor Al Kafri, a CARA fellow in Professor Conlan’s laboratory, together with collaborators at the synchrotron facility in Grenoble and the University of Stuttgart.
Their findings have just been published in the leading journal Redox Biology.
Professor Conlan, who heads the Reproductive Biology and Gynecological Oncology group at Swansea University Medical School, described the project as a tremendous scientific research effort.
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He said: “This is one of those quite rare moments when you realize the team have made a novel biological discover. Noor and Benoit are incredibly talented scientists, and only through their skill and dedication were we able to make this advance. The Swansea-Grenoble partnership demonstrates clearly how international and interdisciplinary partnerships lead the way in scientific discovery.”
Source: Eurekalert
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