Product-mediated regulation reveals the polymorphic nature of the yeast assimilatory nitrate reductase.

Nitrite functioned as an effective inducer of nitrate reductase, the enzyme responsible for the reduction of nitrate in the nitrate assimilation pathway in Candida utilis. Nitrite-induced synthesis of nitrate reductase in C. utilis was repressed by various metabolites of nitrate, including ammonia. Readily-assimilable sources of nitrogen such as ammonia and glutamate exerted a stronger repression on nitrate reductase induction than did less-readily assimilable hydrazine and hydroxylamine. Nitrite-mediated induction of nitrate reductase appeared more sensitive to repression by nitrate metabolites than was nitrate-mediated induction. Based on the inducer-specific differences in the sensitivity of the enzyme to repression by various intermediary metabolites and on other properties, it is proposed that the C. utilis nitrate reductase is either polymorphic or utilizes alternative receptor(s) for binding various gratuitous inducers including nitrite in initiating the induction pathway.