QQS is an orphan gene that arose recently in the Arabidopsis thaliana lineage. It was first identified in a screen for genes with altered expression pattern in SS3 mutants which make an abundance of starch. Overexpression of QQS in Arabidopsis increases protein content and decreases total starch content. Thus it appears to function to modulate carbon/nitrogen allocation in Arabidopsis. Over expression of QQS in soybean, rice and maize also results in an increase in protein and decrease in starch levels suggesting that QQS affects similar pathways in a wide range of plants. QQS interacts with NF-YC4 in Arabidopsis and NF-YC4 homologs in rice, soybean and maize. In Arabidopsis QQS is localized the the cytoplasm and when complexed with NF-YC4 , it localizes to the nucleus. Putative OXS2-binding DEGs were constitutively activated by OXS2.
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