Nitrate redudase (NR) is the first enzyme in nitrate assimilation, a critica1 process for plant survival. l h e regulation of NR gene expression is complex, involving both interna1 and externa1 factors. O f these, nitrate indudion of NR gene expression has been studied most extensively and is well conserved among baderia, fungi, and higher plants. We are interested in understanding the mechanism of nitrate indudion of higher plant NR genes. Here we describe promoter analyses of the 5' flanking regions of the Arabidopsis NR genes, NR1 and NRZ, with resped to nitrate indudion of gene expression. To facilitate these analyses, a nitrate indudion procedure using 1, transgenic tobacco plants was established. Approximately 1.5-kb 5' flanking regions of the two Arabidopsis NR genes (NR1 and NRZ) were fused to a reporter gene and its expression in transgenic plants was analyzed. Deletion analyses of these regions show that 238-and 188-bp 5' flanking regions of the NR1 and NRZ, respedively, contain sequences responsive to nitrate indudion.