The unique alpha-aminoadipate pathway for lysine biosynthesis is present only in fungi and involves eight enzyme steps. alpha-Aminoadipate semialdehyde dehydrogenase, commonly called alpha-aminoadipate reductase (AAR), catalyzes the conversion of alpha-aminoadipic acid to alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde by a novel mechanism. Two genes, LYS2 and LYS5, encode the heterodimeric enzyme in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The LYS2 gene of Candida albicans was shown to be contained in the 4.8-kb insert of the plasmid pCaLYS2. This plasmid complemented lys2 mutants of both S. cerevisiae and C. albicans. The S. cerevisiae and C. albicans Lys2(+) transformants exhibited 138% and 160% of wild-type AAR activity, respectively. The DNA-sequence analysis of the 4.8-kb region in plasmid pCaLYS2 and a PCR product from genomic DNA which overlapped with the 4.8-kb insert revealed a continuous ORF of 4173 nucleotides encoding 1391 amino-acid residues. The C. albicans LYS2 ORF exhibited 63.0% identity at the nucleotide level and 56.2% identity at the amino-acid level to the LYS2 gene of S. cerevisiae. The ORF is preceded by consensus sequences for the TATA-, CAAT- and GCN4-box elements. An S. cerevesiae-type transcription termination signal is seen in the 3' flanking region. The deduced amino-acid sequence revealed a motif for an AMP-binding site and also the highly conserved core sequences common to peptide antibiotic synthetases. The LYS2 mRNA and alpha-aminoadipate reductase activity were repressed to a higher level in YEPD-grown cells than in cells grown in the presence of lysine or minimal medium. Additionally, AAR was shown to be feedback-inhibited by lysine and the lysine analog, thialysine. The results of the present report reveal the molecular characteristics of the LYS2 gene of C. albicans, its homology to peptide antibiotic synthetases, its divergence from the LYS2 gene of S. cerevisiae, and the regulation of AAR in C. albicans.