A study of derepression of NAD-specific glutamate dehydrogenase of Neurospora crassa

Transfer of Neurospora crassa mycelium from a 1% (w/v) sucrose medium to carbon-free or 1% (w/v) glutamate medium results in the onset of derepression of the catabolic NAD-specific glutamate dehydrogenase (NAD-GDH), within 30 min of the shift. Immunoprecipitation of in vivo pulse-labelled NAD-GDH demonstrated that this enzyme was synthesized de novo, correlating with increasing enzyme activity in shifted cells. Derepression was shown to be under transcriptional control by using the RNA synthesis inhibitor, picolinic acid, and by immunoprecipitation of the in vitro translation products of poly(A)-containing mRNA from repressed and derepressed cells. A brief (5 min) shift to derepression medium followed by a return to 1% (w/v) sucrose medium was sufficient to trigger synthesis of abundant NAD-GDH transcripts and low levels of the active enzyme. A secondary level of translational control is proposed to account for the discrepancy between the detectable levels of NAD-GDH transcripts and protein, following transient derepression.