Regulation of phenylalanine ammonia lyase in Rhodotorula glutinis

In the red yeast Rhodotorula glutinis, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) was induced 10-fold during carbon starvation even in the absence of exogenous phenylalanine, although maximal induction occurred when phenylalanine was the nitrogen (40-fold) or carbon (100-fold) source. Apparent regulatory mutations that affected the expression of PAL were isolated by selecting mutants resistant to the analog p-fluoro-D,L-phenylalanine (PFP). One such mutant, designated FP1, could use phenylalanine as a nitrogen source but not as a carbon source. Similarly, FP1 failed to utilize intermediates of the phenylalanine degradative pathway, namely, benzoate, p-hydroxybenzoate, or 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate, as carbon sources. Although the PFP-resistant mutant contained a low level of PAL, no increase was found when it was grown with phenylalanine as the nitrogen source. A derivative of FP1, FP1a, was isolated that simultaneously regained an inducible PAL and the ability to use phenylalanine, benzoate, p-hydroxybenzoate, and 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate as carbon sources. In addition, when p-hydroxybenzoate was the carbon source, PAL was induced in the mutant FP1a but not in the PFP-sensitive parental strain. We propose that the mutation to PFP resistance occurred in a regulatory gene that controls the entire phenylalanine degradative pathway. Secondary mutations at this locus, as found in strain FP1a, not only restored expression of this pathway, but also altered the induction of PAL by metabolites of this pathway.