PE_PGRS43 Family assigned · medium auto-curated

H37Rv Rv2490c · MTBC0 - · 1660 aa · 2801254–2806236 H37Rv (-) · RefSeq YP_177887.1

Genomic neighbourhood (genome browser)

Open in full genome browser →

This gene (outlined) in its genomic context; arrows are neighbouring genes coloured by verdict. Click any gene to navigate. Pan and zoom in the full browser.

Annotation: from legacy to revised

Legacy (H37Rv / Mycobrowser)PE-PGRS family protein PE_PGRS43
MTBC0 PGAP re-annotation
Revised (this work)PE-PGRS family protein PE_PGRS43. Pfam: PE (PF00934.26), PGRS (PF21526.3).
Functional category (TubercuList)PE/PPE

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) never studied

No publication mentions this gene in its title or abstract — not under its H37Rv locus tag, not under its gene name, and not under any ortholog identifier. Its annotation rests on sequence/structure evidence, with no primary study behind it.

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.

Intrinsic disorder (sequence + structure) highly disordered

Predicted disorder87% of residues (metapredict) · mean AlphaFold pLDDT 58.3
Disordered regions1 IDR(s), longest 1454 aa [206-1660]

carries a substantial disordered region (1454/1660 residues); disorder is a property, not a function

A property (biophysics), not a function. No LLPS/condensate claim is made from disorder alone. Verdict unchanged. Source: metapredict v3 (Emenecker/Holehouse) per-residue disorder + AlphaFold mean pLDDT (annotation_mtbc P16.13).

Conditional expression context (iModulons)

Member of 1 independently-modulated gene set(s): SigD (sigD).

iModulon membership (independently-modulated gene sets from a 647-sample RNA-seq compendium): the conditional co-expression context. Co-expression is a regulatory context, NOT a molecular function. Source: iModulonDB / modulome_mtb (Yoo 2022).

CRISPRi vulnerability

Vulnerability index 0.51 (95% CI -3.71 to 5.93). 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 functionFunction unknown

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 Mb2518c · 100.0% 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 Q79FD4 TrEMBL · unreviewed · Predicted
UniProt namePE-PGRS family protein PE_PGRS43

Functional vocabulary (eggNOG-mapper, orthology transfer)

COG category I Lipid transport and metabolism
eggNOG descriptionMember of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis PE family, PGRS subfamily of gly-rich proteins (see
Orthologous groupCOG0657

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)

pN/pS 0.366 · purifying
Polymorphic sites (≥ 0.1% of strains) 22 synonymous, 20 missense, 0 nonsense, 5 frameshift
Disruption 5 distinct premature-stop/frameshift site(s); most common in 1.25% of strains (1815) · convergent

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) MTBC-specific

M. canettii dN/dS (deep-divergence selection) 0.235 · 21 consensus substitution(s)
under purifying selection vs M. canettii (deep divergence; dN/dS=0.235) — a real, constrained gene predating the MTBC clonal expansion
Genus-wide presence (~53 non-MTBC Mycobacterium) present in 0/53 (0%) · 0/4 closest MTBAP relatives
NOT MTBC-specific despite passing the strict presence filter: no hit at pident>=30 & qcov>=50 across the 53 non-MTBC genomes, BUT sub-threshold tblastn hit(s) exist (M_scrofulaceum:67.5id/5cov;n=50;mtbap=4) — the gene is PRESENT BUT DIVERGENT in at least one non-MTBC Mycobacterium, not a genus-level innovation. Do not frame as MTBC-specific nor as a host-adaptation factor. Human non-homology, if needed, must be established directly (BLASTp vs human proteome), never inferred from this field.
Phylostratum (deepest detected homolog) MTBC-specific Mycobacterium Mycobacteriaceae Corynebacteriales Actinomycetia Bacteria

absent from the whole genus and from all outgroups tested — a candidate MTBC-specific innovation (confirm by synteny; rule out detection failure for short/divergent ORFs)

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) 52 in the ORF — 0 in the essential state, 0 growth-defect, 52 non-essential, 0 growth-advantage. Saturation 0.904, mean read count 75.6595744681. 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.

Proteomics (mass spectrometry) detected

MS detectiondetected in 1 of 16 independent MS datasets
Integrated abundance5.18 ppm · rank 2926/3519 (16.9th 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.

Physico-chemical properties (computed, ProtParam)

Length1660 aa
Molecular weight133.1 kDa
Theoretical pI4.05
GRAVY-0.255 (hydrophilic)
Aliphatic index41.8
Aromaticity0.022
Instability index18.4 (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
PEPF00934.26 3.0e-334–94 PE family
PGRSPF21526.3 4.8e-12118–186 PGRS repeats

Genomic context (neighbours & predicted operon)

Upstream (5' on genome)Rv2489c (- strand, 108 bp gap)
Downstream (3' on genome)Rv2490a (- strand, 86 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.

Closest characterised functional partner: iniB (isoniazid inducible protein IniB), high confidence from genomic context alone (score 775 excluding text-mining).

PartnerProductScoreNo text-miningChannels (≥400)
Rv2082 hyp hypothetical protein 790 782 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv0341 iniB isoniazid inducible protein IniB 774 775 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv0304c PPE5 PPE family protein PPE5 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv1917c PPE34 PPE family protein PPE34 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv1004c membrane protein 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv3343c PPE54 PPE family protein PPE54 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv3347c PPE55 PPE family protein PPE55 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv2209 integral membrane protein 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv3350c PPE56 PPE family protein PPE56 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv0355c PPE8 PPE family protein PPE8 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv1753c PPE24 PPE family protein PPE24 773 773 ctx cooccurence:773
Rv0305c PPE6 PPE family protein PPE6 773 773 ctx cooccurence:773
Rv3879c espK ESX-1 secretion-associated protein EspK 772 772 ctx cooccurence:772
Rv2305 hyp hypothetical protein 772 772 ctx cooccurence:772
Rv2819c csm5 CRISPR type III-associated RAMP protein Csm5 772 772 ctx cooccurence:772

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): PE-PGRS family protein PE_PGRS43
  • Pfam (hmmscan --cut_ga): PE PF00934.26 (E=3e-33), PGRS PF21526.3 (E=5e-12)
  • (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_177887.1)
  • Domains: Pfam-A via hmmscan --cut_ga — PE (PF00934.26), PGRS (PF21526.3)
  • 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 COG0657
  • Curated reference: UniProt Q79FD4 (TrEMBL, unreviewed; Predicted)
  • Intra-MTBC selection: pN/pS and disruption from SPDI variants of 145 209 MTBC strains (this work, local collection vs H37Rv NC_000962.3)
  • Interaction network: STRING v12.0 (Szklarczyk et al. 2023, doi:10.1093/nar/gkac1000), taxon 83332, CC-BY 4.0 — 149 functional partner(s); context anchor iniB
  • 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)
  • Physico-chemical properties: ExPASy ProtParam method via Biopython (Gasteiger et al. 2005), computed from the MTBC0 sequence
  • Primary literature: none located yet; annotation rests on the domain/homology sources above.

Ancestral MTBC0 protein sequence

>H37Rv|Rv2490c|PE_PGRS43
MSYVIATPEMMATAAFDLARIGSQVSAASAVAAMPTTEVVAAGADEVSAGIAALFSAHAQEYQALSAQAAAFHDQFVHTLTAAARWYTATEIANAAAMRVVLGAVNAPTQTLLGRPLIGDGAHGTAPGQPGGAGGLLFGNGGNGAAGAVGQVGGAGGAAGLFGIGGAGGAGGAGAPGGTGGTGGWLAGGGGVGGMGGAGGGAGGAGGNAGLFGNGGAGGAGGAGGGAGGAGGNAGWFGHGGAGGVGGVGAAGANGATPGQDGAAGVAGSDDGAGGDGLAGSDGGDGGAGGVGGNGGRGGWLLGNGGAGGVGGVGGAGGAGAAGGAGGAGATGINGPAGISAAGGDGGAGGNGGAGGNGGVGGAGGAGGSAGLLGYVGRAGDGGAGGGGGLGGAPGDGGAGGNGGSWLAAGDGGAGGHGGDPGLGGAGGAGGASGGAGARAGANGLAAGNDGPVSGGNGGKGGNGAHAPVAGGHGGNGGAGGNGGLVGDGGAGGHGGDGAAGAGYADMTAIFLGSSGTPGEDGGNGGAGGAGGAGGAHAGDGGAGGAGGNGGAGGAGGNGAHGFNAVLVSDGGNGGDGGAGGRGGDGGAGGAGGDAPAGRAGSQGVGGDGGAGGAGGAPGNGGSGGRGDMAFKDGDGGAGGDGGDPGAGGKGGAGGAGATEGVTGATGATVHSGGNGGKGGNGADATVAGANGGKGGAGGNGGLVGDGGAGGDGGSGAAGANGANVGEDGADGTLSGQPGEGSEANGGQGGVGGGGAGGAGGDGGAGSSALGSGGNGGRGDAGQAGGAGGAGGAGGAGGSVSGDGGPGGKGGAGGAGGAGASGGGGGKGASGADSAEAVGGAGGKGGDGGVGGVGGDGGPGGDGGAGGAAPAGQVGSHGVGGVGGDGGLGGAGGNGGDGGHGSDGGDGGDGGDPGAGGLGGLGGDSGNGTRAASGVDASDHGPGSGGNGGNGGNGAQASVAGGAGGNGGDGGNAGRVGDGGAGGNGGDGAAGANGANSGAPGSDALALGQPGGNGGQGDAGQAGGAGGAGGAGGAGGSVSGDGGAGGNGGAGGNGGVGASGGAGARGANGIDSIGGTGGAGGGGGDGGAGGVGGHGGDGGVGGAAPSGTVGSHGTGGVGGDGGLGGAGGVGGAGGNGGIGITVGGAGGAGGNGGDPGAGGRGGLGGDSGNGTSAANGVDASKHGPLTGGDGGVGGNGAKAAAAGGDGGQGGDGGNAGLFGDGGAGGDGADGTAAEALGGDGGAGGAGGKGGDAGDIGDGGDGGKGGDGAHGALGGLTVAGGNGGAGGAGGAGGAGGAFLGDGGNGGAGGQGGAGRGGSPGGGGGVGGHGGAGGDAGMNGGGGTGGQGGNGAAGGAGWSPDSDLKGFDGFDGGSGGAGGDGGAGGAGGTQTGDGGDGGAGGLGGAGGVGGNGVDGFDINETTGRDGGDGGDGGYGGWGGAGGNGGAGGSAPAGEVGNRGVGGDGGDGGSGGDAGNGGLGGDGFTYLADFDGEPGGDGGDGGDGGWGRPGGQGGFGSTSGAHGKAGFGAPGGDGGDGGNGGHGGDGNGSFADAGDGGPGGNGGNGGLGGAGRDGGAPGGDGGDGGTGGSGGFGAPPPRSIGGGDGGDGGRGGDGGRGAGGLTSGGVGSSGESGGSGNGRGDPGSGGSGGEGGEGGPSISVNVT