Aldo Keto Reductase Family 7 Like Protein (AKR7L)

AKR7L is one of three aldo-keto reductase genes that are present in a cluster on the p arm of chromosome 1. The encoded proteins are involved in the reduction of the dialdehyde protein-binding form of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) to the non-binding AFB1 dialcohol. This family member encodes a selenoprotein, which contains a selenocysteine (Sec) residue. The selenocysteine is encoded by a UGA codon that normally signals translational termination. Selenoprotein genes have a common stem-loop structure, the sec insertion sequence (SECIS), that is necessary for the recognition of UGA as a Sec codon rather than as a stop signal. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been identified for this gene. The AKR7A4 transcript contains a selenocysteine insertion element (SECIS)-like structure downstream of a TGA stop codon that may recode the TGA to a selenocysteine.