Clostridioides difficile exploits xanthine and uric acid as nutrients by utilizing a selenium-dependent catabolic pathway - PubMed
Selenium is a trace element that plays critical roles in redox biology; it is typically incorporated into "selenoproteins" as the 21st amino acid selenocysteine. Additionally, selenium exists as a labile non-selenocysteine cofactor in a small subset of selenoproteins known as selenium-dependent moly …