ansP2 Resolved · high auto-curated

H37Rv Rv0346c · MTBC0 - · 487 aa · 415502–416965 H37Rv (-) · RefSeq YP_177718.1

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Annotation: from legacy to revised

Legacy (H37Rv / Mycobrowser)L-asparagine permease
MTBC0 PGAP re-annotation
Revised (this work)L-asparagine permease. Pfam: AA_permease (PF00324.28), AA_permease_2 (PF13520.13).
Functional category (TubercuList)cell wall and cell processes

Auto-curated: this verdict and function were generated by rules from PGAP + Pfam + Foldseek and have not been hand-reviewed.

Annotated on the H37Rv protein: this gene has no 1:1 ancestral MTBC0 anchor (PE/PPE, paralogue, IS element, or otherwise unanchored CDS).

In the literature (TB corpus sweep) 2 publications

2 TB publications mention this gene. 2 publication(s) discuss this gene (2 in a M. tuberculosis context).

PublicationDate
Nitrogen metabolism in mycobacteria: the key genes and targeted antimicrobials. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1149041 2023
Mycobacterium tuberculosis exploits asparagine to assimilate nitrogen and resist acid stress during infection. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003928 2014

This layer CITES the literature and adds context; it does not change the verdict or the function stated elsewhere in this fiche. This distinguishes a gene that is dark because nobody has looked from one that is dark despite having been studied. Source: PubMed (whole): H37Rv locus tag + GENE NAME + ortholog identifiers (Mb…, MMAR_…, MSMEG_…, ML…, MAB_…), under a mycobacterial context filter; hits verified against the abstract text. Species-context counts distinguish M. tuberculosis literature from literature on other mycobacteria. phase76/phase77, 2026-07-13.

CRISPRi vulnerability

Vulnerability index 1.09 (95% CI -0.76 to 4.26). A more negative index = more vulnerable to knockdown (better drug-target quality); indicative threshold VI ≤ -6 = highly vulnerable.

Quantitative CRISPRi knockdown, graded (finer than binary Tn-seq essentiality). Source: CRISPRi vulnerability index (Bosch 2021, pebble.rockefeller.edu).

Legacy record & comparison (Mycobrowser)

Mycobrowser functionThought to be involved in transport of L-asparagine across the membrane. Responsible for the translocation of the substrate across the membrane.

The legacy Mycobrowser record is shown for verification. Mycobrowser is no longer maintained; its EC numbers predate recent nomenclature revisions, so a class change usually reflects re-numbering, not a conflict.

Orthologues (reciprocal best hits across mycobacteria)

M. bovis Mb0354c · 100.0% identity
M. marinum MMAR_0627 · 83.5% identity
M. orygis RJtmp_000362 · 99.6% identity

Reciprocal-best-hit orthologues (DIAMOND) against the Mycobrowser reference proteomes. A missing species is informative: e.g. a gene absent from M. leprae was likely lost in its reductive genome evolution. Locus tags link to Mycobrowser.

Curated reference (UniProt)

UniProt P9WQM7 SwissProt · reviewed · Evidence at protein level
UniProt nameL-asparagine permease 2
Curated functionDual function in both nitrogen assimilation and in protection against acid stress during infection. Involved in asparagine uptake.

Functional vocabulary (eggNOG-mapper, orthology transfer)

COG category E Amino acid transport and metabolism
Preferred nameansP
eggNOG descriptionpermease
Orthologous groupCOG1113
KEGG orthology K11738
Gene Ontology (2) GO:0005575, GO:0005576

Orthology-based transfer (eggNOG 5.0.2, diamond). EC/KO/GO/CAZy are computed annotations, not manual curation; cross-check against the primary literature before treating a specific reaction as established.

Conservation & selection (intra-MTBC, 145 209 strains) pseudogene candidate

pN/pS 1.062 · relaxed/neutral
Polymorphic sites (≥ 0.1% of strains) 2 synonymous, 6 missense, 0 nonsense, 2 frameshift
Disruption 2 distinct premature-stop/frameshift site(s); most common in 5.06% of strains (7344) · clonal

pN/pS from segregating SNPs (singletons removed) normalised by possible sites. Low pN/pS = purifying selection (a strong signal that a "hypothetical" is a real, constrained gene). A high pN/pS is ambiguous: relaxed constraint or positive selection (drug resistance, antigenic variation) inflate it; e.g. rpoB/katG/pncA score high here for resistance, not loss of function. A clonal disruption (one allele over a clade) suggests lineage pseudogenisation; a convergent one (many independent alleles) is typical of resistance loss-of-function.

Outgroup conservation (beyond the MTBC) Bacteria

M. canettii dN/dS (deep-divergence selection) 0.354 (low power) · 2 consensus substitution(s)
low power (2 canettii-consensus substitution(s)); present in M. canettii but dN/dS not reliable
Genus-wide presence (~53 non-MTBC Mycobacterium) present in 52/53 (98%) · mean identity 73.0% · 4/4 closest MTBAP relatives
conserved across the genus (present in 52/53 non-MTBC Mycobacterium genomes, incl. distant relatives) — an ancient core gene predating the genus radiation
Phylostratum (deepest detected homolog) MTBC-specific Mycobacterium Mycobacteriaceae Corynebacteriales Actinomycetia Bacteria
detected in 13/13 non-Mycobacterium reference genomes (down to Bacteria) · mean identity 46.5%
detected down to outside the phylum (Proteobacteria/Firmicutes controls) — a universally conserved, ancient bacterial gene

Two orthogonal outgroup signals. M. canettii (the immediate outgroup) gives a deep-divergence dN/dS (a low value confirms a constrained, real gene; shown as confident only at ≥8 substitutions, else flagged low-power). Genus-wide presence/absence (tblastn vs assembled non-MTBC genomes) places the gene on the ancient-core ↔ MTBC-specific axis: a gene absent even from the closest MTBAP relatives is a candidate MTBC-specific innovation (possible host-adaptation factor, to confirm by synteny). The phylostratum extends that axis outside the genus (tblastn vs 13 reference genomes spanning Mycobacteriaceae → Corynebacteriales → Actinomycetia → outside the phylum): it is the deepest clade in which a homolog is still detected, i.e. a proxy for gene age. Read it with the null model in mind: a shallow (young) stratum can also reflect homology-detection failure for short or fast-evolving ORFs, so it is a descriptive axis, not a proof of novelty.

Essentiality (transposon mutagenesis)

DeJesus 2017 callNE · non-essential
What the call meansnon-essential
TA sites (Himar1) 29 in the ORF — 0 in the essential state, 0 growth-defect, 29 non-essential, 0 growth-advantage. Saturation 0.966, mean read count 146.678571429. A region of the protein devoid of TA sites is invisible to this assay: nothing can be inferred about it, in either direction.

Genome-wide Himar1 transposon essentiality in H37Rv (DeJesus 2017). An essential call (ES/ESD/GD) is strong, independent evidence that a "hypothetical" locus encodes a functional, selectively required gene — orthogonal to intra-species conservation.

Mutant phenotypes (conditional Tn-seq, MtbTnDB) in-vivo phenotype

Conditionlog2FCqEffect
altered fitness under Ethambutol (drug exposure) +3.490.0 disruption advantageous
altered fitness under amino acid starvation (stress) +3.380.014 disruption advantageous
altered fitness under tryptophan starvation (stress) +3.290.0 disruption advantageous
altered fitness under Ethambutol (drug exposure) +1.310.0 disruption advantageous
fitness in mouse infection (in vivo) -1.260.0 required
altered fitness under high iron concentrations (stress) -1.250.05 required
altered fitness under Meropenem (drug exposure) +1.220.049 disruption advantageous
altered fitness under acid stress in phosphate-citrate buffer (stress) +1.060.0 disruption advantageous

Conditional fitness of transposon-disruption mutants across 8 significant condition(s) (|log2FC|≥1, q≤0.05), from the standardized MtbTnDB compendium. A negative log2FC means the mutant is depleted — the gene contributes to fitness in that condition. An in-vivo defect for a "hypothetical" is strong evidence it matters for infection, even without a known molecular function. Disruption (Tn insertion), not a clean deletion; genetic-interaction screens excluded.

Proteomics (mass spectrometry) detected

MS detectiondetected in 10 of 16 independent MS datasets
Integrated abundance8.36 ppm · rank 2749/3519 (21.9th percentile)

Detection by mass spectrometry is direct, experimental evidence that the protein product exists — orthogonal to sequence conservation and to Tn-seq essentiality, and especially decisive for a "hypothetical" locus. Reproducible detection across several independent datasets (PaxDb) makes the existence claim robust; the integrated abundance places the protein in the proteome's dynamic range.

Predicted localisation (DeepTMHMM + lipobox)

Predictionpredicted membrane protein (12 TM helixes)
DeepTMHMM classTM
TM helices (DeepTMHMM)12

Transmembrane topology and signal peptide from DeepTMHMM (deep-learning reference predictor); lipoproteins from a (myco)bacterial lipobox motif. A sequence-based prediction of subcellular context.

Physico-chemical properties (computed, ProtParam)

Length487 aa
Molecular weight52.2 kDa
Theoretical pI9.36
GRAVY0.714 (hydrophobic)
Aliphatic index119.8
Aromaticity0.103
Instability index32.7 (stable)

Computed from the ancestral MTBC0 sequence with the ExPASy ProtParam method (Biopython). Descriptive biophysical context: a positive GRAVY flags a hydrophobic (often membrane) protein, a high instability index (>40) predicts a short in-vitro half-life, an extreme pI hints at compartment or binding partner.

Domains (Pfam, hmmscan --cut_ga)

PfamAccessioni-EvalueResiduesDescription
AA_permeasePF00324.28 3.0e-10827–436 Amino acid permease
AA_permease_2PF13520.13 5.1e-3628–435 Amino acid permease

Structural search (AlphaFold DB model, Foldseek vs PDB — genome-wide) pLDDT 88.5

PDB hitprobTM-scoreE-valueDescription
7o82-assembly1_B 1.00 0.85 1.4e-13 sig 7o82-assembly1_B The L-arginine/agmatine antiporter from E. coli at 1.7 A resolution
6f34-assembly1_A 1.00 0.82 5.7e-14 sig 6f34-assembly1_A Crystal structure of a bacterial cationic amino acid transporter (CAT) homologue bound to Arginine.
5oqt-assembly1_A 1.00 0.80 7.1e-14 sig 5oqt-assembly1_A Crystal structure of a bacterial cationic amino acid transporter (CAT) homologue
8wnt-assembly1_B 1.00 0.78 1.4e-13 sig 8wnt-assembly1_B Cryo EM map of SLC7A10 with L-Alanine substrate
9h76-assembly1_A 1.00 0.80 1.5e-13 sig 9h76-assembly1_A Bacterial LAT transporter BASC in complex with L-Ala and NB53

Foldseek search of the AlphaFold DB model (mean pLDDT 88.5, gated at 70) against the PDB — a genome-wide extension of the ESMFold dark-gene search that also covers proteins beyond the single-sequence length limit. Confident structural neighbours (E < 0.01) shown.

Genomic context (neighbours & predicted operon)

Upstream (5' on genome)Rv0345 (+ strand, 41 bp gap)
Downstream (3' on genome)Rv0347 (+ strand, 338 bp gap)

Neighbours from the H37Rv annotation (- strand). The operon is predicted by co-directional intergenic distance (same strand, gaps ≤50 bp) — a transcription-unit hypothesis, not a mapped TSS. For a "hypothetical", co-transcription with a characterised operon is a concrete functional lead (complements the STRING neighborhood channel below).

Functional interaction network (STRING v12, guilt-by-association)

Explore full network →

Node colour = verdict, dashed = hypothetical; edge colour = evidence (green experimental, orange genomic-context, grey co-expression), width ∝ score. Click a partner to open its page; "Explore full network" to walk the graph.

PartnerProductScoreNo text-miningChannels (≥400)
Rv0347 membrane protein 755 366 textmining:630
Rv0655 mkl ABC transporter ATP-binding protein 470 244
Rv1902c nanT sialic acid-transport integral membrane protein NanT 430 206
Rv1538c ansA L-aparaginase 905 96 textmining:900
Rv0104 hyp hypothetical protein 520 57 textmining:513
Rv1272c drug ABC transporter ATP-binding protein 437 52 textmining:431
Rv3565 aspB aspartate aminotransferase AspB 457 44 textmining:456

STRING combines evidence channels (neighborhood, fusion, cooccurrence, coexpression, experimental, database, text-mining) into a 0–1000 score. The ctx badge marks edges carried by the genomic-context channels (conserved neighborhood, fusion, phylogenetic co-occurrence), which are independent of orthology and structure and the strongest signal for an unknown gene. The exp badge marks an experimentally-supported partner (measured interaction, experimental/database channel ≥400) as opposed to a purely predicted one — but note that the M. tuberculosis experimental interactome is dominated by a noisy bacterial-two-hybrid screen, so a strong measured link that contradicts the operon/localisation context is likely a false positive. The no text-mining column recomputes the score from data alone, so a link that does not depend on the literature is visible. Association is a function hypothesis, not proof: corroborate with the operon context and the primary literature before assigning a function.

Evidence

  • Annotation from H37Rv (no MTBC0 1:1 anchor; H37Rv protein used): L-asparagine permease
  • Pfam (hmmscan --cut_ga): AA_permease PF00324.28 (E=3e-108), AA_permease_2 PF13520.13 (E=5e-36)
  • (auto-curated by rules from PGAP + Pfam + Foldseek; not hand-reviewed)

Sources

  • Ancestral sequence & coordinates: Harrison LB et al. (2024), An imputed ancestral reference genome for the MTBC, doi:10.1101/2023.09.07.556366
  • Product annotation: NCBI PGAP on MTBC0; legacy from H37Rv NC_000962.3 (RefSeq YP_177718.1)
  • Domains: Pfam-A via hmmscan --cut_ga — AA_permease (PF00324.28), AA_permease_2 (PF13520.13)
  • Sequence-level signal: ESM Atlas (EvolutionaryScale × BioHub) — exploratory
  • Controlled vocabulary: eggNOG-mapper 2.1.12 (Cantalapiedra et al. 2021, doi:10.1093/molbev/msab293), eggNOG 5.0 DB (Huerta-Cepas et al. 2019) — OG COG1113
  • Curated reference: UniProt P9WQM7 (SwissProt, reviewed; Evidence at protein level)
  • Intra-MTBC selection: pN/pS and disruption from SPDI variants of 145 209 MTBC strains (this work, local collection vs H37Rv NC_000962.3)
  • Genome-wide structure: AlphaFold DB model (Jumper et al. 2021, doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03819-2; Varadi et al. 2024, doi:10.1093/nar/gkad1011) searched vs PDB with Foldseek (mean pLDDT 88.5)
  • Interaction network: STRING v12.0 (Szklarczyk et al. 2023, doi:10.1093/nar/gkac1000), taxon 83332, CC-BY 4.0 — 7 functional partner(s)
  • Essentiality: genome-wide transposon mutagenesis in H37Rv — DeJesus et al. 2017 (mBio, doi:10.1128/mBio.02133-16, CC BY)
  • Proteomics: integrated mass-spectrometry abundance from PaxDb 5.0 (Huang et al. 2023, doi:10.1016/j.mcpro.2023.100640), taxon 83332 — weighted average of 16 datasets, incl. Schubert et al. 2013 (doi:10.1016/j.chom.2013.04.008) and Albrethsen et al. 2013 (doi:10.1074/mcp.M112.018846)
  • Functional category: TubercuList scheme (Cole et al. 1998, doi:10.1038/31159), via Mycobrowser (Kapopoulou et al. 2011, doi:10.1016/j.tube.2010.09.006)
  • Orthologues: reciprocal best hits (DIAMOND, Buchfink et al. 2021, doi:10.1038/s41592-021-01101-x) against Mycobrowser release 5 reference proteomes
  • Genomic context / operon: H37Rv annotation; operon predicted by co-directional intergenic distance (Salgado et al. 2000, doi:10.1073/pnas.030539397)
  • Mutant phenotypes: standardized Tn-seq compendium MtbTnDB (Jinich et al. 2025, doi:10.1111/mmi.15370), aggregating many primary Tn-seq studies across conditions
  • Physico-chemical properties: ExPASy ProtParam method via Biopython (Gasteiger et al. 2005), computed from the MTBC0 sequence
  • Predicted localisation: DeepTMHMM (Hallgren et al. 2022, doi:10.1101/2022.04.08.487609) for transmembrane topology and signal peptide
  • Primary literature: none located yet; annotation rests on the domain/homology sources above.

Ancestral MTBC0 protein sequence

>H37Rv|Rv0346c|ansP2
MPPLDITDERLTREDTGYHKGLHSRQLQMIALGGAIGTGLFLGAGGRLASAGPGLFLVYGICGIFVFLILRALGELVLHRPSSGSFVSYAREFYGEKVAFVAGWMYFLNWAMTGIVDTTAIAHYCHYWRAFQPIPQWTLALIALLVVLSMNLISVRLFGELEFWASLIKVIALVTFLIVGTVFLAGRYKIDGQETGVSLWSSHGGIVPTGLLPIVLVTSGVVFAYAAIELVGIAAGETAEPAKIMPRAINSVVLRIACFYVGSTVLLALLLPYTAYKEHVSPFVTFFSKIGIDAAGSVMNLVVLTAALSSLNAGLYSTGRILRSMAINGSGPRFTAPMSKTGVPYGGILLTAGIGLLGIILNAIKPSQAFEIVLHIAATGVIAAWATIVACQLRLHRMANAGQLQRPKFRMPLSPFSGYLTLAFLAGVLILMYFDEQHGPWMIAATVIGVPALIGGWYLVRNRVTAVAHHAIDHTKSVAVVHSADPI