Disease relevance of trkG

• The analysis of mutants of Escherichia coli that require elevated concentrations of K+ for growth has revealed two new genes, trkG, near minute 30 within the cryptic rac prophage, and trkH, near minute 87, the products of which affect constitutive K+ transport [1].
• The incidence of trkG and betU within the ECOR collection, representatives of the E. coli pathotypes (PATH), and additional strains associated with urinary tract infection (UTI) were determined [2].

High impact information on trkG

• Both lacked the trkH homologue trkG [2].
• Genes trkG and betU may have been acquired by lateral gene transfer, since trkG is part of the rac prophage and betU is flanked by putative insertion sequences [2].
• Subcloning, nucleotide sequence, and expression of trkG, a gene that encodes an integral membrane protein involved in potassium uptake via the Trk system of Escherichia coli [3].

Biological context of trkG

• The kinetics of transport in strains with wild-type alleles at trkG and at trkH suggest that both products participate in transport [4].
• The trkG gene encodes a component of the K+ uptake system Trk and is located at 30.5 min inside the lambdoid prophage region rac of the Escherichia coli chromosome. trkG was subcloned, its nucleotide sequence was determined, and its product was identified in a minicell system [3].

References