Regulation of biosynthesis of L-amino acid oxidase by Neurospora crassa.

L-Amino acid oxidase was purified from liquid cultures of Neurospora crassa induced by L-phenylalanine, D-phenylalanine, ATP and cycloheximide. Although the four enzyme species isolated were found to differ in size and electrophoretic mobility, they were the product of a single gene as demonstrated by genomic Southern analysis. Northern analysis of total cellular RNA showed a rapid increase of L-amino acid oxidase mRNA in response to the different inducing agents studied. These data suggest that the L-amino acid oxidase gene from N. crassa is regulated at the transcriptional level.