The ''narK'' RNA motif is a conserved

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

structure that was discovered by bioinformatics. ''narK'' motif RNAs are found in Beta- and

Gammaproteobacteria ''Gammaproteobacteria'' is a class of bacteria in the phylum ''Pseudomonadota'' (synonym ''Proteobacteria''). It contains about 250 genera, which makes it the most genus-rich taxon of the Prokaryotes. Several medically, ecologically, and scienti ...

. ''narK'' RNAs likely function as

cis-regulatory element ''Cis''-regulatory elements (CREs) or ''cis''-regulatory modules (CRMs) are regions of non-coding DNA which regulate the transcription of neighboring genes. CREs are vital components of genetic regulatory networks, which in turn control morpho ...

s, in view of their positions upstream of

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

-coding

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

s. Four genes are presumably regulated by ''narK'' RNA, and they encode: a

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

transporter, proteins with sulfite- and

nitrate reductase Nitrate reductases are molybdoenzymes that reduce nitrate () to nitrite (). This reaction is critical for the production of protein in most crop plants, as nitrate is the predominant source of nitrogen in fertilized soils. Types Euka ...

domains, proteins in the

major facilitator superfamily The major facilitator superfamily (MFS) is a Protein superfamily, superfamily of membrane transport proteins that facilitate movement of small solutes across cell membranes in response to chemiosmosis, chemiosmotic gradients. Function The major ...

and

cyclic di-GMP Cyclic di-GMP (also called cyclic diguanylate and c-di- GMP) is a second messenger used in signal transduction in a wide variety of bacteria. Cyclic di-GMP is not known to be used by archaea, and has only been observed in eukaryotes in ''Dictyost ...

-specific

phosphodiesterase A phosphodiesterase (PDE) is an enzyme that breaks a phosphodiester bond. Usually, ''phosphodiesterase'' refers to cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases, which have great clinical significance and are described below. However, there are many oth ...

s of the EAL family. It was therefore proposed that there is good evidence that ''narK'' RNAs regulate genes in ''cis'', and that they might play a role related to nitrate.

References

{{reflist Non-coding RNA