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Phylogenomics of Mycobacterium Nitrate Reductase Operon

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Abstract

NarGHJI operon encodes a nitrate reductase that can reduce nitrate to nitrite. This process enhances bacterial survival by nitrate respiration under anaerobic conditions. NarGHJI operon exists in many bacteria, especially saprophytic bacteria living in soil which play a key role in the nitrogen cycle. Most actinomycetes, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, possess NarGHJI operons. M. tuberculosis is a facultative intracellular pathogen that expands in macrophages and has the ability to persist in a non-replicative form in granuloma lifelong. Nitrogen and nitrogen compounds play crucial roles in the struggle between M. tuberculosis and host. M. tuberculosis can use nitrate as a final electron acceptor under anaerobic conditions to enhance its survival. In this article, we reviewed the mechanisms regulating nitrate reductase expression and affecting its activity. Potential genes involved in regulating the nitrate reductase expression in M. tuberculosis were identified. The conserved NarG might be an alternative mycobacterium taxonomic marker.

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Acknowledgments

This work funded by National Natural Science Foundation (Grant Nos. 81371851, 81071316, 81271882), New Century Excellent Talents in Universities (NCET-11-0703), National Megaprojects for Key Infectious Diseases (No. 2008ZX10003-006), Excellent PhD thesis fellowship of southwest university (Grant Nos. kb2009010 and ky2011003), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Nos. XDJK2012D011, XDJK2013D003), Natural Science Foundation Project of CQ CSTC (Grant No. CSTC, 2010BB5002). The Chongqing Municipal Committee of Education for postgraduates excellence program (No. YJG123104), the Undergraduates Teaching Reform program (No. 2011JY052). The authors are grateful for the exchange students from College of Benediction/ Saint John University, Hasini Kalpage, Nhung Do, and Syn Ching for their suggestions on the manuscript.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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  1. Institute of Modern Biopharmaceuticals, State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Eco-Environment and Bio-Resource of the Three Gorges Area, Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, 1 Rd Tiansheng, Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, People’s Republic of China

    Qinqin Huang, Abualgasim Elgaili Abdalla & Jianping Xie

  2. Department of Clinical Microbiology, College of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Omdurman Islamic University, Omdurman, Khartoum, Sudan

    Abualgasim Elgaili Abdalla

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  1. Qinqin Huang
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Huang, Q., Abdalla, A.E. & Xie, J. Phylogenomics of Mycobacterium Nitrate Reductase Operon. Curr Microbiol 71, 121–128 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0838-2

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