Disease relevance of narQ

• The narQ gene mapped to 53 minutes on the E. coli genetic map, a location distinct from all known nitrate regulatory or target genes [1].
• The Bacillus subtilis narA locus was shown to include narQ and narA [2].

High impact information on narQ

• Analysis of narX* and narL missense alleles in narQ+ versus narQ::Tn10 backgrounds suggests that NarQ and NarX may have subtle functional differences [1].
• The narQ gene was cloned, sequenced, and compared with the narX gene [3].
• These findings suggest that the narX and narQ products have complementary sensor-transmitter functions for nitrate detection, and can work independently to activate NarL, for eliciting nitrate-dependent regulation of anaerobic electron transport and fermentation functions [3].
• Analysis of the DNA sequence upstream of the narQ gene, which encodes the second nitrate-responsive sensor-transmitter protein in Escherichia coli, revealed an open reading frame (ORF) whose product shows a high degree of similarity to a number of iron-sulfur proteins as well as to the beta subunit of glutamate synthase (gltD) of E. coli [4].
• This ORF, located at 53.0 min on the E. coli chromosome, is divergently transcribed and is separated by 206 bp from the narQ gene [4].

Associations of narQ with chemical compounds

• In this study a third nitrate regulatory gene, narQ, was identified that also participates in nitrate-dependent gene regulation [3].

Other interactions of narQ

• One noteworthy observation is that narXL genes are specifically associated with the structural genes for membrane-bound nitrate reductase, narGHJI, whereas organization and linkage of the narQ and narP genes is quite variable [5].

References