Current Microbiology, Vol.31, No.6, 345-350, 1995
REGULATION OF NITROGEN-METABOLIZING ENZYMES IN THE COMMERCIAL MUSHROOM AGARICUS-BISPORUS
Mycelium of Agaricus bisporus strain Horst U1 was grown in batch cultures on different concentrations of ammonium, glutamate, and glucose to test the effect of these substrates on the activities of NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase (NADP-GDH, EC 1.4.1.4.), NAD-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase (NAD-GDH, EC 1.4.1.2.), and glutamine synthetase (GS, EC 6.3.1.2.). When grown on ammonium, the activities of NADP-GDH and GS were repressed. NAD-GDH activity was about 10 times higher than the activities of NADP-GDH and GS. At concentrations below 8 mM ammonium, NADP-GDH and GS were slightly derepressed. When glutamate was used as the nitrogen source, activities of NADP-GDH and GS were derepressed; compared with growth on ammonium, the activities of these two enzymes were about 10 times higher. Activities of GDHs showed no variation at different glutamate concentrations. Activity of GS was slightly derepressed at low glutamate concentrations. Growth of A. bisporus on both ammonium and glutamate as nitrogen sources resulted in enzyme activities comparable to growth on ammonium alone. Activities of NADP-GDH, NAD-GDH, and GS were not influenced by the concentration of glucose in the medium. In mycelium starved for nitrogen, the activities of NADP-GDH, NAD-GDH, and GS were derepressed, while in carbon-starved mycelium the activity of GS and both GDHs was repressed.