Genomic context predicts substrate specificity of proteins involved in a nucleoside salvage pathway in M. genitalium. A cluster of five genes in M. genitalium encodes four genes of a nucleoside salvage pathway. The “standard” gene for this fifth reaction in the pathway, phosphoribomutase (deoB), is absent. The fifth gene in the operon is homologous to phosphomannomutases and phosphoglucomutases. M. genitalium does not contain any other candidate for a phosphoribomutase. The most likely candidate for the phosphoribomutase is thus MG053. The significance of the location of a homolog of MG053 in a run with deoD is supported by the location of a homolog of the M. genitalium gene MG053 besidedeoD in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
