The 40-kDa subunit enhances but is not required for activity of the coated vesicle proton pump.

We have previously demonstrated reassembly of a functional vacuolar (H+)-ATPase from clathrin-coated vesicles using the dissociated peripheral domain (V1) and the membrane-bound integral domain (V0) (Puopolo, K., and Forgac, M. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 14836-14841). We have used this reassembly procedure to test the function of the 40-kDa subunit of the coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase. In the absence of V0, a fraction of the peripheral subunits reassemble into a V1 subcomplex which contains the 73-kDa A subunit, the 58-kDa B subunit, and the 34- and 33-kDa subunits but lacks the 40-kDa subunit. This subcomplex, which sediments with a mass of approximately 500 kDa, can be separated from the remaining monomeric subunits (and the 40-kDa subunit) by density gradient sedimentation. When dissociated with 0.36 M KI, 2.5 mM ATP, and 2.5 mM MgSO4, and added to membranes from which V1 has been dissociated, this V1(-40 kDa) subcomplex is able to reassemble with V0 to give a (H+)-ATPase with a proton pumping activity approximately half that obtained in the presence of the 40-kDa subunit. The undissociated subcomplex is not competent for assembly of a functional (H+)-ATPase. Interestingly, the monomeric fraction obtained from density gradient sedimentation contains the 40-kDa subunit but lacks the 34-kDa subunit. This monomeric fraction is nevertheless also able to assemble with V0 to give a functional proton pump. The V1V0 complexes assembled in the absence of either the 40- or 34-kDa subunits, while active, are not stable to detergent solubilization and immunoprecipitation, suggesting that both of these subunits play a role in stabilization of the (H+)-ATPase complex. Evidence for interaction between the 40- and 33-kDa subunits is also presented.     

Dissociation, cross-linking, and glycosylation of the coated vesicle proton pump

In order to refine further our structural model of the coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase (Arai, H., Terres, G., Pink, S., and Forgac, M. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 8796-8802), we have extended our structural analysis to identify peripheral and glycosylated subunits of the pump as well as to identify subunits which are in close proximity in the native (H+)-ATPase complex. Treatment of the purified, reconstituted (H+)-ATPase with 0.30 M KI in the presence or absence of ATP or MgATP results in the release of the 73-, 58-, 40-, 34-, and 33-kDa subunits, leaving behind the 100-, 38-, 19-, and 17-kDa subunits in the membrane. Because the former group of polypeptides is released from the membrane in the absence of detergent, they correspond to peripheral membrane proteins. To determine which subunits are in close proximity, cross-linking of the purified (H+)-ATPase was carried out using the cleavable, bifunctional amino reagent 3,3'-dithiobis(sulfosuccinimidylpropionate) followed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. These studies indicate that contact regions exist between the 73- and 58-kDa subunits as well as between the 17-kDa subunit and the 40-, 34-, and 33-kDa subunits. To test for glycosylation of the (H+)-ATPase, the detergent-solubilized complex was treated with neuraminidase followed by electrophoresis and blotting using a peanut lectin/horseradish peroxidase conjugate. Galactose-inhibitable staining of the 100-kDa subunit, together with affinity chromatography of the intact (H+)-ATPase on peanut lectin agarose, indicates that the 100-kDa subunit is glycosylated, most likely at a site exposed on the luminal side of the membrane. These results, together with those presented in the preceding paper (Adachi, I., Arai, H., Pimental, R., and Forgac, M. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 960-966), were used in the construction of a refined model of the coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase.     

Assembly and targeting of peripheral and integral membrane subunits of the yeast vacuolar H(+)-ATPase.

Previous purification and characterization of the yeast vacuolar proton-translocating ATPase (H(+)-ATPase) have indicated that it is a multisubunit complex consisting of both integral and peripheral membrane subunits (Uchida, E., Ohsumi, Y., and Anraku, Y. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 1090-1095; Kane, P. M., Yamashiro, C. T., and Stevens, T. H. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 19236-19244). We have obtained monoclonal antibodies recognizing the 42- and 100-kDa polypeptides that were co-purified with vacuolar ATPase activity. Using these antibodies we provide further evidence that the 42-kDa polypeptide, a peripheral membrane protein, and the 100-kDa polypeptide, an integral membrane protein, are genuine subunits of the yeast vacuolar H(+)-ATPase. The synthesis, assembly, and targeting of three of the peripheral subunits (the 69-, 60-, and 42-kDa subunits) and two of the integral membrane subunits (the 100- and 17-kDa subunits) were examined in mutant yeast cells containing chromosomal deletions in the TFP1, VAT2, or VMA3 genes, which encode the 69-, 60-, and 17-kDa subunits, respectively. The steady-state levels of the various subunits in whole cell lysates and purified vacuolar membranes were assessed by Western blotting, and the intracellular localization of the 60- and 100-kDa subunits was also examined by immunofluorescence microscopy. The results suggest that the assembly and/or the vacuolar targeting of the peripheral subunits of the yeast vacuolar H(+)-ATPase depend on the presence of all three of the 69-, 60-, and 17-kDa subunits. The 100-kDa subunit can be transported to the vacuole independently of the peripheral membrane subunits as long as the 17-kDa subunit is present; but in the absence of the 17-kDa subunit, the 100-kDa subunit appears to be both unstable and incompetent for transport to the vacuole.     

Proteolysis and orientation on reconstitution of the coated vesicle proton pump

We recently proposed a structural model for the ATP-dependent proton pump from clathrin-coated vesicles (Arai, H., Terres, G., Pink, S., and Forgac, M. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 8796-8802). To test this model further, we have carried out additional structural analysis of the (H+)-ATPase in both the detergent-solubilized and reconstituted states in this and the following paper (Adachi, I., Puopolo, K., Marquez-Sterling, N., Arai, H., and Forgac, M. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 967-973). The orientation of the reconstituted proton pump was determined by analyzing the effect of detergent on ATP hydrolysis and by quantitating the extent of labeling of luminally oriented subunits using a membrane-impermeant reagent. Greater than 90% of the reconstituted (H+)-ATPase is oriented with the cytoplasmic surface facing outward. Treatment of the reconstituted (H+)-ATPase with trypsin results in rapid cleavage of the 100-, 73-, 58-, 38-, and 34-kDa subunits and slower cleavage of the 40- and 33-kDa subunits, consistent with our previous results indicating that all of these polypeptides have some portion of their mass exposed to the cytoplasmic surface. The 19- and 17-kDa subunits, by contrast, appear resistant to cleavage by trypsin in both the detergent-solubilized and reconstituted states, consistent with their being buried extensively in the hydrophobic phase of the bilayer. Treatment of the enzyme with trypsin under conditions in which the 100-, 73-, 58-, 38-, and 34-kDa subunits have been cleaved results in a species which is virtually inactive with respect to proton transport but retains 50% of the original ATPase activity, suggesting that proteolysis has resulted in uncoupling of these two activities. Cleavage of both the 73- and 58-kDa subunits by trypsin at a site 1-2 kDa from the amino terminus is inhibited in the presence of 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)-ATP, consistent with the suggestion that both the 73- and 58-kDa subunits may be nucleotide binding proteins.     

Partial Purification and Characterization of the Vacuolar H+-ATPase of Mammalian Synaptic Vesicles

Several major proteins of synaptic vesicles from rat or cow brain sediment as a large complex on sucrose density gradients when solubilized in nonionic detergents. A vacuolar H(+)-ATPase identified by sensitivity to bafilomycin A1 appears to be associated with this oligomeric protein complex. Two subunits of this complex, synaptic vesicle proteins S and U, correspond to the 57-kDa (B) and 39-kDa accessory (Ac39) subunits, respectively, of bovine chromaffin granule vacuolar H(+)-ATPase as shown by Western immunoblot analysis. The five subunits of the oligomeric complex constitute approximately 20% of the total protein of rat brain synaptic vesicles. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that the abundant, multisubunit complex partially purified from brain synaptic vesicles by density gradient centrifugation is a vacuolar H(+)-ATPase. Bafilomycin A1 completely blocks proton pumping in rat brain synaptic vesicles as measured by [14C]methylamine uptake and also blocks catecholamine accumulation measured by [3H]dopamine uptake. Moreover, ATPase activity, [14C]methylamine uptake, and [3H]dopamine uptake are inhibited by bafilomycin A1 at similar I50 values of approximately 1.7 nmol/mg of protein. These findings indicate that the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase is essential for proton pumping as well as catecholamine uptake by mammalian synaptic vesicles.     

Structure and properties of the coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase

Clathrin-coated vesicles play an important role in both receptor-mediated endocytosis and intracellular membrane traffic in eukaryotic cells. The coated vesicle (H⁺)-ATPase functions to provide the acidic environment within endosomes and other intracellular compartments necessary for receptor recycling and intracellular membrane traffic. The coated vesicle (H⁺)-ATPase is composed of nine different subunits which are divided into two distinct domains. The peripheral V₁ domain, which has the structure 73₃:58₃:40₁:34₁:33₁, possesses the nucleotide binding sites of the (H⁺)-ATPase. The integral V₀ domain, which has the composition 100₁:38₁:19₁:17₆, contains the pathway for proton conduction across the membrane. Topographical analysis indicates a structure for the coated vesicle (H⁺)-ATPase very similar to that of the F-type ATPases. Reassembly studies have allowed us to probe the function of particular subunits in this complex and the activity properties of the separate domains. These studies have led to insights into possible mechanisms of regulating vacuolar acidification.     

The VPH1 gene encodes a 95-kDa integral membrane polypeptide required for in vivo assembly and activity of the yeast vacuolar H(+)-ATPase.

Yeast vacuolar acidification-defective (vph) mutants were identified using the pH-sensitive fluorescence of 6-carboxyfluorescein diacetate (Preston, R. A., Murphy, R. F., and Jones, E. W. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 7027-7031). Vacuoles purified from yeast bearing the vph1-1 mutation had no detectable bafilomycin-sensitive ATPase activity or ATP-dependent proton pumping. The peripherally bound nucleotide-binding subunits of the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase (60 and 69 kDa) were no longer associated with vacuolar membranes yet were present in wild type levels in yeast whole cell extracts. The VPH1 gene was cloned by complementation of the vph1-1 mutation and independently cloned by screening a lambda gt11 expression library with antibodies directed against a 95-kDa vacuolar integral membrane protein. Deletion disruption of the VPH1 gene revealed that the VPH1 gene is not essential for viability but is required for vacuolar H(+)-ATPase assembly and vacuolar acidification. VPH1 encodes a predicted polypeptide of 840 amino acid residues (molecular mass 95.6 kDa) and contains six putative membrane-spanning regions. Cell fractionation and immunodetection demonstrate that Vph1p is a vacuolar integral membrane protein that co-purifies with vacuolar H(+)-ATPase activity. Multiple sequence alignments show extensive homology over the entire lengths of the following four polypeptides: Vph1p, the 116-kDa polypeptide of the rat clathrin-coated vesicles/synaptic vesicle proton pump, the predicted polypeptide encoded by the yeast gene STV1 (Similar To VPH1, identified as an open reading frame next to the BUB2 gene), and the TJ6 mouse immune suppressor factor.     

A single gene encodes the catalytic "A" subunit of the bovine vacuolar H(+)-ATPase.

We have previously demonstrated that the 73-kDa (A) subunit of the bovine coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase possesses a nucleotide binding site required for catalytic activity (Arai, H., Berne, M., Terres, G., Terres, H., Puopolo, K., and Forgac, M. (1987) Biochemistry 26, 6632-6638). Here we report the cDNA sequence of the coding region of the bovine brain A subunit. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence with those previously reported for the A subunits of vacuolar ATPases from lower eukaryotes, plants, and archaebacteria reveals significant homology, especially in sequences implicated in nucleotide binding. The message encoding the bovine brain A subunit is relatively large, approximately 4.6 kilobases; Northern blotting of RNA isolated from rat brain and human brain tumor cells reveals a message of similar size. Northern analysis of several bovine tissues indicates that only one message for this subunit is expressed. Southern blot analysis of bovine genomic DNA indicates that the bovine A subunit is encoded by a single gene.     

Partial resolution and reconstitution of the subunits of the clathrin-coated vesicle proton ATPase responsible for Ca2+-activated ATP hydrolysis

The clathrin-coated vesicle proton-translocating complex is composed of a maximum of eight major polypeptides. Of these potential subunits, only the 17-kDa component, which is a proton pore, has been defined functionally (Sun, S.Z., Xie, X. S., and Stone, D. K. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 14790-14794). ATPase-and proton-pumping activities of the 200-fold purified proton-translocating complex are supported by Mg2+, whereas Ca2+ will only activate ATP hydrolysis. Like Mg2+-activated ATPase activity, Ca2+-supported ATP hydrolysis is inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide, NO3-, and an inhibitory antibody and is stimulated by Cl- and phosphatidylserine. Thus, Ca2+ prevents coupling of ATPase activity to vectoral proton movement, and Ca2+-activated ATPase activity is a partial reaction useful for analyzing the subunit structure required for ATP hydrolysis. The 530-kDa holoenzyme was dissociated with 3 M urea and subcomplexes, and isolated subunits were partially resolved by glycerol gradient centrifugation. No combination of these components yielded Mg2+-activated ATPase or proton pumping. Ca2+-activated ATP hydrolysis was not catalyzed by a subcomplex containing the 70- and 58-kDa subunits but was restored by recombination of the 70-, 58-, 40-, and 33-kDa polypeptides, indicating that these are subunits of the clathrin-coated vesicle proton pump which are necessary for ATP hydrolysis.     

Inhibition of the coated vesicle proton pump and labeling of a 17,000-dalton polypeptide by N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide

N,N'-Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD) inhibits 100% of proton transport and 80-85% of (Mg2+)-ATPase activity in clathrin-coated vesicles. Half-maximum inhibition of proton transport is observed at 10 microM DCCD after 30 min. Although treatment of the coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase with DCCD has no effect on ATP hydrolysis in the detergent-solubilized state, sensitivity of proton transport and ATPase activity to DCCD is restored following reconstitution into phospholipid vesicles. In addition, treatment of the detergent-solubilized enzyme with DCCD followed by reconstitution gives a preparation that is blocked in both proton transport and ATP hydrolysis. These results suggest that although the coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase can react with DCCD in either a membrane-bound or detergent-solubilized state, inhibition of ATPase activity is only manifested when the pump is present in sealed membrane vesicles. To identify the subunit responsible for inhibition of the coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase by DCCD, we have labeled the partially purified enzyme with [14C]DCCD. A single polypeptide of molecular weight 17,000 is labeled. The extremely hydrophobic nature of this polypeptide is indicated by its extraction with chloroform:methanol. The 17,000-dalton protein can be labeled to a maximum stoichiometry of 0.99 mol of DCCD/mol of protein with 100% inhibition of proton transport occurring at a stoichiometry of 0.15-0.20 mol of DCCD/mol of protein. Amino acid analysis of the chloroform:methanol extracted 17,000-dalton polypeptide reveals a high percentage of nonpolar amino acids. The similarity in properties of this protein and the DCCD-binding subunit of the coupling factor (H+)-ATPases suggests that the 17,000-dalton polypeptide may function as part of a proton channel in the coated vesicle proton pump.     

Proteolytic activation of the plant plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase by removal of a terminal segment

Incubation of oat root plasma membrane vesicles in the presence of ATP with trypsin or chymotrypsin increased the rate of ATP hydrolysis and ATP-dependent proton pumping by the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase. Proton pumping was stimulated more than 200%, whereas ATP hydrolytic activity was stimulated about 30%. The Km (ATP) for both proton pumping and ATP hydrolysis was lowered from about 0.3 mM to below 0.1 mM. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of trypsin-treated plasma membranes revealed a decrease in a 100-kDa band and the appearance of a 93-kDa band. Western blot analysis using antibodies against the H(+)-ATPase showed that both of these bands represented the H(+)-ATPase and suggested that a 7-kDa segment was released. Extensive treatment with carboxypeptidase A also activated the H(+)-ATPase indicating that the 7-kDa segment originated from the C terminus.     

A novel mechanism for regulation of vacuolar acidification.

We have recently demonstrated that Cys-254 of the 73-kDa A subunit of the clathrin-coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase is responsible for sensitivity of the enzyme to sulfhydryl reagents (Feng, Y., and Forgac, M. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 5817-5822). In the present study we observe that for the purified enzyme, disulfide bond formation causes inactivation of proton transport which is reversed by dithiothreitol (DTT). DTT also restores activity of the oxidized enzyme following treatment with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM). These results indicate that disulfide bond formation between the NEM-reactive cysteine (Cys-254) and a closely proximal cysteine residue leads to inactivation of the (H+)-ATPase. To test whether sulfhydryl-disulfide bond interchange may play a role in regulating vacuolar acidification in vivo, we have determined what fraction of the (H+)-ATPase is disulfide-bonded in native clathrin-coated vesicles. Vesicles were isolated under conditions that prevent any change in the oxidation state of the sulfhydryl groups. NEM treatment of vesicles causes nearly complete loss of activity while subsequent treatment with DTT restores 50% of the activity of the fully reduced vesicles. By contrast, treatment of fully reduced vesicles with NEM leads to inactivation which is not reversed by DTT. These results indicate that a significant fraction of the clathrin-coated vesicle (H+)-ATPase exists in an inactive, disulfide-bonded state and suggest that sulfhydryl-disulfide bond interconversion may play a role in controlling vacuolar (H+)-ATPase (V-ATPase) activity in vivo.     

Peripheral and integral subunits of the tonoplast H+-ATPase from oat roots

The subunit organization of the tonoplast H+-pumping ATPase from oat roots (Avena sativa L. var. Lang) was investigated. Tonoplast vesicles were treated with low ionic strength solutions (0.1 mM 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid buffer or 0.1 mM Na EDTA), carbonate, or a chaotropic reagent (KI), and then centrifuged to give a soluble fraction and a pellet. Treatments with low ionic strength solutions or KI resulted in 70-80% reduction in the membrane-associated ATPase activity, but did not affect the K+-stimulated pyrophosphatase activity. Polypeptides of 72, 60, and 41 kDa were solubilized from tonoplast vesicles by these wash treatments. These polypeptides reacted with polyclonal antibodies against the holoenzyme of tonoplast ATPase (anti-ATPase) and copurified with the tonoplast ATPase activity during gel filtration chromatography (Sepharose CL-6B). Mono-specific antibody against the 72- or 60-kDa polypeptide reacted with the solubilized 72- or 60-kDa polypeptide, respectively. However, the N,N-[14C]dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-binding 16-kDa polypeptide and a 13-kDa polypeptide that also reacted with anti-ATPase and copurified with the tonoplast ATPase activity during gel filtration remained in the pellets after the wash treatments. We conclude that the 72- and 60-kDa polypeptides appear to be peripheral subunits of the tonoplast ATPase and that the 16-kDa polypeptide is probably embedded in the membrane bilayer. Additional subunits of the ATPase complex may include a 41-kDa (peripheral) and a 13-kDa (integral) polypeptide. Based on these results, a working model of the tonoplast ATPase analogous to the F1F0-ATPase is proposed.     

VMA11, a novel gene that encodes a putative proteolipid, is indispensable for expression of yeast vacuolar membrane H(+)-ATPase activity.

A gene, VMA11, is indispensable for expression of the vacuolar membrane H(+)-ATPase activity in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Ohya, Y., Umemoto, N., Tanida, I., Ohta, A., Iida, H., and Anraku, Y. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 13971-13977). The VMA11 gene was isolated from a yeast genomic DNA library by complementation of the vma11 mutation. The nucleotide sequence of the gene predicts a hydrophobic proteolipid of 164 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 17,037 daltons. The deduced amino acid sequence shows 56.7% identity, and significant coincidence in amino acid composition with the 16-kDa subunit c (a VMA3 gene product) of the yeast vacuolar membrane H(+)-ATPase. VMA11 and VMA3 on a multicopy plasmid did not suppress the vma3 and vma11 mutation, respectively, suggesting functional independence of the two gene products. Biochemical detection of the VMA11 gene product was unsuccessful, but vacuoles in the VMA11-disrupted cells were not assembled with either subunit c or subunits a and b of the H(+)-ATPase, resulting in defects of the activity and in vivo vacuolar acidification.     

Trypanosoma cruzi H+-ATPase 1 (TcHA1) and 2 (TcHA2) genes complement yeast mutants defective in H+ pumps and encode plasma membrane P-type H+-ATPases with different enzymatic properties

Previous studies in Trypanosoma cruzi have shown that intracellular pH homeostasis requires ATP and is affected by H(+)-ATPase inhibitors, indicating a major role for ATP-driven proton pumps in intracellular pH control. In the present study, we report the cloning and sequencing of a pair of genes linked in tandem (TcHA1 and TcHA2) in T. cruzi which encode proteins with homology to fungal and plant P-type proton-pumping ATPases. The genes are expressed at the mRNA level in different developmental stages of T. cruzi: TcHA1 is expressed maximally in epimastigotes, whereas TcHA2 is expressed predominantly in trypomastigotes. The proteins predicted from the nucleotide sequence of the genes have 875 and 917 amino acids and molecular masses of 96.3 and 101.2 kDa, respectively. Full-length TcHA1 and an N-terminal truncated version of TcHA2 complemented a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain deficient in P-type H(+)-ATPase activity, the proteins localized to the yeast plasma membrane, and ATP-driven proton pumping could be detected in proteoliposomes reconstituted from plasma membrane purified from transfected yeast. The reconstituted proton transport activity was reduced by inhibitors of P-type H(+)-ATPases. C-terminal truncation did not affect complementation of mutant yeast, suggesting the lack of C-terminal autoinhibitory domains in these proteins. ATPase activity in plasma membrane from TcHA1- and (N-terminal truncated) TcHA2-transfected yeast was inhibited to different extents by vanadate, whereas the latter yeast strain was more resistant to extremes of pH, suggesting that the native proteins may serve different functions at different stages in the T. cruzi life cycle.     

Vacuolar H(+)-ATPase localized in plasma membranes of malaria parasite cells, Plasmodium falciparum, is involved in regional acidification of parasitized erythrocytes

Recent biochemical studies involving 2',7'-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5, 6-carboxylfluorescein (BCECF)-labeled saponin-permeabilized and parasitized erythrocytes indicated that malaria parasite cells maintain the resting cytoplasmic pH at about 7.3, and treatment with vacuolar proton-pump inhibitors reduces the resting pH to 6.7, suggesting proton extrusion from the parasite cells via vacuolar H(+)-ATPase (Saliba, K. J., and Kirk, K. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 33213-33219). In the present study, we investigated the localization of vacuolar H(+)-ATPase in Plasmodium falciparum cells infecting erythrocytes. Antibodies against vacuolar H(+)-ATPase subunit A and B specifically immunostained the infecting parasite cells and recognized a single 67- and 55-kDa polypeptide, respectively. Immunoelectron microscopy indicated that the immunological counterpart of V-ATPase subunits A and B is localized at the plasma membrane, small clear vesicles, and food vacuoles, a lower extent being detected at the parasitophorus vacuolar membrane of the parasite cells. We measured the cytoplasmic pH of both infected erythrocytes and invading malaria parasite cells by microfluorimetry using BCECF fluorescence. It was found that a restricted area of the erythrocyte cytoplasm near a parasite cell is slightly acidic, being about pH 6.9. The pH increased to pH 7.3 upon the addition of either concanamycin B or bafilomycin A(1), specific inhibitors of vacuolar H(+)-ATPase. Simultaneously, the cytoplasmic pH of the infecting parasite cell decreased from pH 7.3 to 7.1. Neither vanadate at 0.5 mm, an inhibitor of P-type H(+)-ATPase, nor ethylisopropylamiloride at 0.2 mm, an inhibitor of Na(+)/H(+)-exchanger, affected the cytoplasmic pH of erythrocytes or infecting parasite cells. These results constitute direct evidence that plasma membrane vacuolar H(+)-ATPase is responsible for active extrusion of protons from the parasite cells.     

Subunit arrangement in V-ATPase from Thermus thermophilus

The V0V1-ATPase of Thermus thermophilus catalyzes ATP synthesis coupled with proton translocation. It consists of an ATPase-active V1 part (ABDF) and a proton channel V0 part (CLEGI), but the arrangement of each subunit is still largely unknown. Here we found that acid treatment of V0V1-ATPase induced its dissociation into two subcomplexes, one with subunit composition ABDFCL and the other with EGI. Exposure of the isolated V0 to acid or 8 m urea also produced two subcomplexes, EGI and CL. Thus, the C subunit (homologue of d subunit, yeast Vma6p) associates with the L subunit ring tightly, and I (homologue of 100-kDa subunit, yeast Vph1p), E, and G subunits constitute a stable complex. Based on these observations and our recent demonstration that D, F, and L subunits rotate relative to A3B3 (Imamura, H., Nakano, M., Noji, H., Muneyuki, E., Ohkuma, S., Yoshida, M., and Yokoyama, K. (2003) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 100, 2312-2315; Yokoyama, K., Nakano, M., Imamura, H., Yoshida, M., and Tamakoshi, M. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 24255-24258), we propose that C, D, F, and L subunits constitute the central rotor shaft and A, B, E, G, and I subunits comprise the surrounding stator apparatus in the V0V1-ATPase.     

Subunit composition of vacuolar membrane H(+)-ATPase from mung bean

The vacuolar H(+)-ATPase from mung bean hypocotyls was solubilized from the membrane with lysophosphatidycholine and purified by QAE-Toyopearl column chromatography. The purified ATPase was active only in the presence of exogenous phospholipid and was inhibited by nitrate, dicyclohexyl carbodiimide and Triton X-100, but not by vanadate or azide. Dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the purified ATPase yielded ten polypeptides of molecular masses of 68 kDa, 57 kDa, 44 kDa, 43 kDa, 38 kDa, 37 kDa 32 kDa, 16 kDa, 13 kDa and 12 kDa. All polypeptides remained in the peak activity fraction after glycerol density gradient centrifugation. Nine of them, excluding the 43-kDa polypeptide, comigrated in a polyacrylamide gradient gel in the presence of 0.1% Triton X-100. The 16-kDa polypeptide could be labeled with [14C]dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. The amino-terminal amino acid sequence of the isolated 68-kDa polypeptide generally agreed with that deduced from the cDNA for the carrot 69-kDa subunit [Zimniak, L., Dittrich, P., Gogarten, J. P., Kibak, H. & Taiz, L. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 9102-9112]. Thus, mung bean vacuolar H(+)-ATPase seems to consist of nine distinct subunits.     

Effect of N,N-Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide on Acetylcholine Release from Torpedo Synaptosomes and Proteoliposomes Reconstituted with the Proteolipid Mediatophore

The mediatophore is a presynaptic membrane protein that has been shown to translocate acetylcholine (ACh) under calcium stimulation when reconstituted into artificial membranes. The mediatophore subunit, a 15-kDa proteolipid, presents a very high sequence homology with the N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD)-binding proteolipid subunit of the vacuolar-type H(+)-ATPase. This prompted us to study the effect of DCCD, a potent blocker of proton translocation, on calcium-dependent ACh release. The present work shows that DCCD has no effect on ACh translocation either from Torpedo synaptosomes or from proteoliposomes reconstituted with purified mediatophore. However, using [14C]DCCD, we were able to demonstrate that the drug does bind to the 15-kDa proteolipid subunit of the mediatophore. These results suggest that although the 15-kDa proteolipid subunits of the mediatophore and the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase may be identical, different domains of these proteins are involved in proton translocation and calcium-dependent ACh release and that the two proteins have a different membrane organization.