Genetical, developmental, and thermal regulation of antioxidant enzymes in Neurospora

Three characteristics of the biochemical genetics of antioxidant enzyme regulation in Neurospora and enteric bacteria are analogous. This paper reports two additional analogies:responsiveness to change in respiratory rate or thermal stress. A negative regulatory Neurospora mutant is defective in those responses. Although several differences are noted, the common denominator of the two organisms is probably an oxy-regulon, a global unit of genetic function. The degree of homology of bacterial and fungal antioxidant enzyme regulatory mechanisms at the molecular-genetic and signal transduction levels of organization remains to be examined. The hypothesis that the genetic control of antioxidant enzymes is a prerequisite for cellular differentiation of Neurospora is discussed.