Rv3802c Resolved · high auto-curated

H37Rv Rv3802c · MTBC0 mtbc0_004030 · 336 aa · 4287465–4288475 MTBC0 (-) · RefSeq NP_218319.1

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Annotation: from legacy to revised

Legacy (H37Rv / Mycobrowser)membrane protein
MTBC0 PGAP re-annotationphospholipase
Revised (this work)Phospholipase. Pfam: Cutinase (PF01083.29), PE-PPE (PF08237.18).
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.

In the literature (TB corpus sweep) 9 publications

9 TB publications mention this gene. 9 publication(s) discuss this gene (8 in a M. tuberculosis context, 5 in other mycobacteria — M. smegmatis (4), M. abscessus (1), M. leprae (1)).

Most recent 5 of 9.
PublicationDate
Genomic characterization of variants on mycolic acid metabolism genes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil. doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2021.105107 2021
Biochemical and microbiological evaluation of N-aryl urea derivatives against mycobacteria and mycobacterial hydrolases. doi:10.1039/c9md00122k 2019
Structural basis for lipid binding and mechanism of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3802 phospholipase. doi:10.1074/jbc.RA117.000240 2018
Roles of Triolein and Lipolytic Protein in the Pathogenesis and Survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a Novel Therapeutic Approach. doi:10.1007/s12010-015-1953-z 2016
Targeting essential cell wall lipase Rv3802c for potential therapeutics against tuberculosis. doi:10.1016/j.jmgm.2012.06.016 2012

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 -1.37 (95% CI -1.57 to -1.19). 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 functionShown to have phospholipase and thioesterase activity

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 Mb3832c · 100.0% identity
M. leprae ML0099 · 74.5% identity
M. marinum MMAR_5366 · 86.0% identity
M. smegmatis MSMEG_6394 · 72.6% identity
M. orygis RJtmp_003914 · 100.0% identity
M. abscessus MAB_0178 · 67.9% 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 O53581 SwissProt · reviewed · Evidence at protein level
UniProt nameCarboxylesterase/lipase Culp6
EC (curated) EC 3.1.1.-
Curated functionShows esterase and phospholipase A activities. May be involved in cell wall biosynthesis and/or maintenance. Can hydrolyze various substrates, including the p-nitrophenol-linked aliphatic esters pNP-laurate (C12), pNP-myristate (C14), pNP-palmitate (C16), pNP-stearate (C18), pNP-butyrate (C4), phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, 4-methylumbelliferyl heptanoate and palmitic acid and arachidonic acid containing phospholipids. Does not exhibit cutinase activity.

Functional vocabulary (eggNOG-mapper, orthology transfer)

COG category S Function unknown
Preferred nameelrF
eggNOG descriptioncutinase
Orthologous groupCOG4223

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 0.848 · relaxed/neutral
Polymorphic sites (≥ 0.1% of strains) 2 synonymous, 5 missense, 0 nonsense, 1 frameshift
Disruption 1 distinct premature-stop/frameshift site(s); most common in 0.26% of strains (384) · 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) Corynebacteriales

M. canettii dN/dS (deep-divergence selection) 0.0 (low power) · 1 consensus substitution(s)
low power (1 canettii-consensus substitution(s)); present in M. canettii but dN/dS not reliable
Genus-wide presence (~53 non-MTBC Mycobacterium) present in 53/53 (100%) · mean identity 79.3% · 4/4 closest MTBAP relatives
conserved across the genus (present in 53/53 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 7/13 non-Mycobacterium reference genomes (down to Corynebacteriales) · mean identity 51.2%
detected across the order Corynebacteriales (Corynebacterium/Nocardia/Rhodococcus/…) but not in more distant Actinomycetia — a Corynebacteriales-level 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) essential

DeJesus 2017 callES · essential
What the call meansessential: insertions absent across the whole ORF
TA sites (Himar1) 24 in the ORF — 22 in the essential state, 0 growth-defect, 2 non-essential, 0 growth-advantage. Saturation 0.167, mean read count 36.75. 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.

Chemical-genetic target & druggability (PROSPECT) hypomorph tool strain

This gene is part of the PROSPECT collection of TetON transcriptional-knockdown (hypomorph) strains of essential M. tuberculosis genes, built as a sensitised background for chemical-genetic mechanism-of-action deconvolution. Being in the panel means the gene is an essential / vulnerable target for which a validated knockdown tool strain exists.

Hypomorph strainRv3802c-_TetON18.1 (TetON promoter 18)
Baseline knockdown fitness4.714 median doublings (across 1 screen pool(s)) — fewer doublings = stronger growth defect on knockdown
Used in target deconvolutionno (Excluded - not in all screening waves)

Panel membership reflects essentiality/vulnerability and the availability of a genetic tool, not a specific molecular function; it never changes the verdict here. Source: Bond AN et al., Nat Commun 2025;16:9673 (doi:10.1038/s41467-025-64662-x); PROSPECT chemical-genetic platform.

Enzyme activity (activity-based protein profiling) active serine hydrolase confirms atlas call high-confidence target

Directly labelled by a fluorophosphonate activity-based probe in live M. tuberculosis: biochemical proof that this protein is a catalytically active serine hydrolase, not merely a predicted fold. This experimentally corroborates the atlas assignment (Phospholipase. Pfam: Cutinase (PF01083.29), PE-PPE (PF08237.18).), which was derived independently from structure and orthology.

Source annotationRv3802c Membrane protein (cell wall & cell processes)
Probe enrichment20.0× over no-probe control (20 = capped maximum)
Covalent-inhibitor competition8.64× (probe labelling blocked by a serine-hydrolase inhibitor)
Active / prioritized atpH 6.6 (growth condition)
Active under hypoxiayes (non-replicating persistence relevant)

experimental (activity-based) confirmation of the atlas serine-hydrolase family assignment; proves the enzyme is catalytically active in live M. tuberculosis. It never changes the verdict here. Source: Li M, Patel HV, ..., Canaan S, Aldridge BB et al., Cell Chem Biol 2021 (PMC8964833; doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.09.002); competitive activity-based protein profiling of FP-reactive serine hydrolases.

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

Conditionlog2FCqEffect
altered fitness under amino acid starvation (stress) -8.110.014 required
fitness in mouse infection, day 45 (in vivo) -7.040.0 required
Differential genetic requirements of clinical Mtb strain (ID=632) from East Asian lineage (compared to H37Rv control) (strain background) +4.050.02 required
fitness in mouse infection, day 10 (in vivo) -3.860.026 required

Conditional fitness of transposon-disruption mutants across 4 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 12 of 16 independent MS datasets
Integrated abundance70.3 ppm · rank 1526/3519 (56.7th 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) signal peptide

Predictionpredicted secreted protein (signal peptide)
DeepTMHMM classSP

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)

Length336 aa
Molecular weight35.4 kDa
Theoretical pI6.5
GRAVY-0.152 (hydrophilic)
Aliphatic index80.2
Aromaticity0.054
Instability index44.4 (unstable)

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
CutinasePF01083.29 5.3e-15110–275 Cutinase
PE-PPEPF08237.18 2.7e-07120–310 PE-PPE domain

Experimental structures (Protein Data Bank) 1 solved

PDBMethodResolutionCoverage
5w95 X-ray diffraction 1.723 Å 80%

Experimentally solved structures mapped from the UniProt accession via PDBe/SIFTS (1 total; up to 8 shown, ranked by sequence coverage then resolution). An experimental structure is direct proof of the folded product and the strongest structural evidence — superseding the predicted ESMFold/AlphaFold models below for any covered region.

Structural search (AlphaFold DB model, Foldseek vs PDB — genome-wide) pLDDT 90.6

PDB hitprobTM-scoreE-valueDescription
5w95-assembly2_B 1.00 0.97 1.1e-51 sig 5w95-assembly2_B Mtb Rv3802c with PEG bound
5w95-assembly1_A 1.00 0.98 2.4e-50 sig 5w95-assembly1_A Mtb Rv3802c with PEG bound
3aja-assembly2_B 1.00 0.99 1.3e-43 sig 3aja-assembly2_B Crystal Structure of MSMEG_6394
3aja-assembly1_A 1.00 0.99 4.7e-43 sig 3aja-assembly1_A Crystal Structure of MSMEG_6394
1qoz-assembly2_B 1.00 0.74 2.1e-09 sig 1qoz-assembly2_B Catalytic core domain of acetyl xylan esterase from Trichoderma reesei

Foldseek search of the AlphaFold DB model (mean pLDDT 90.6, 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)fadD32 (- strand, 288 bp gap)
Downstream (3' on genome)fbpD (- strand, 197 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: fbpD (MPT51/MPB51 antigen), high confidence from genomic context alone (score 888 excluding text-mining).

PartnerProductScoreNo text-miningChannels (≥400)
Rv3803c fbpD MPT51/MPB51 antigen 891 888 ctx neighborhood:737 cooccurence:589
Rv3800c pks13 polyketide synthase 905 874 ctx neighborhood:719 cooccurence:564
Rv3805c aftB terminal beta-(1->2)-arabinofuranosyltransferase 852 848 ctx cooccurence:771
Rv3804c fbpA diacylglycerol acyltransferase/mycolyltransferase Ag85A 833 808 ctx cooccurence:702
Rv3794 embA arabinosyltransferase A 807 808 ctx cooccurence:773
Rv3795 embB arabinosyltransferase B 805 806 ctx cooccurence:771
Rv3793 embC arabinosyltransferase C 805 805 ctx cooccurence:771
Rv3801c fadD32 long-chain-fatty-acid--AMP ligase FadD32 838 779 ctx neighborhood:719
Rv3668c protease 778 779 ctx cooccurence:769
Rv0129c fbpC diacylglycerol acyltransferase/mycolyltransferase Ag85C 800 778 ctx cooccurence:743
Rv3244c lpqB lipoprotein LpqB 774 774 ctx cooccurence:764
Rv2673 aftC alpha-(1->3)-arabinofuranosyltransferase 774 774 ctx cooccurence:774
Rv1476 membrane protein 774 774 ctx cooccurence:773
Rv3035 hyp hypothetical protein 770 771 ctx cooccurence:767
Rv2342 hyp hypothetical protein 761 762 ctx cooccurence:756

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

  • Legacy H37Rv annotation: membrane protein
  • MTBC0 PGAP product: phospholipase
  • Pfam (hmmscan --cut_ga): Cutinase PF01083.29 (E=5e-15), PE-PPE PF08237.18 (E=3e-07)
  • (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 NP_218319.1)
  • Domains: Pfam-A via hmmscan --cut_ga — Cutinase (PF01083.29), PE-PPE (PF08237.18)
  • 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 COG4223
  • Curated reference: UniProt O53581 (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 90.6)
  • Interaction network: STRING v12.0 (Szklarczyk et al. 2023, doi:10.1093/nar/gkac1000), taxon 83332, CC-BY 4.0 — 128 functional partner(s); context anchor fbpD
  • 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
  • Experimental structures: PDBe/SIFTS UniProt→PDB mapping (Dana et al. 2019, doi:10.1093/nar/gky1114)
  • 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

>mtbc0_004030|Rv3802c|
MAKNSRRKRHRILAWIAAGAMASVVALVIVAVVIMLRGAESPPSAVPPGVLPPGPTPAHPHKPRPAFQDASCPDVQMISVPGTWESSPQQNPLNPVQFPKALLLKVTGPIAQQFAPARVQTYTVAYTAQFHNPLTTDNQMSYNDSRAEGTRAMVAAMTDMNNRCPLTSYVLIGFSQGAVIAGDVASDIGNGRGPVDEDLVLGVTLIADGRRQQGVGNQVPPSPRGEGAEITLHEVPVLSGLGLTMTGPRPGGFGALDGRTNEICAQGDLICAAPAQAFSPANLPTTLNTLAGGAGQPVHAMYATPEFWNSDGEPATEWTLNWAHQLIENAPHPKHR