Cross-Pathway Regulation: Histidine-Mediated Control of Histidine, Tryptophan, and Arginine Biosynthetic Enzymes in Neurospora crassa

In Neurospora crassa, histidine starvation of histidine mutants resulted in derepression of histidine, tryptophan, and arginine biosynthetic enzymes. The same tripartite derepression occurred in wild-type strain 74A when it was grown in medium supplemented with 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole, an inhibitor of histidine biosynthesis. Histidine-mediated derepression of tryptophan and arginine biosynthetic enzymes was not due to a lowered intracellular concentration of tryptophan or arginine, respectively. A discussion of possible mechanisms and of similar studies in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms is presented.