The mother-cell-membrane adenosine triphosphatase of sporulating Clostridium pasteurianum

1. Sporulation of Clostridium pasteurianum effects several changes in its proton-translocating cell-membrane H(+)-ATPase. Notable among these are the acquisition of susceptibility to activation by trypsin and a changed protein subunit composition. 2. A protein was isolated from the mother-cell membrane that inhibited the ATP phosphohydrolase activity of purified vegetative-cell-membrane H(+)-ATPase [BF(0)F(1) complex, which consists of soluble ATPase (BF(1)) and the proton-channel component (BF(0))] and rendered it susceptible to trypsin activation. 3. This trypsin-sensitive inhibitor protein had a molecular weight of 10000 and on sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis was indistinguishable from the novel protein subunit e of the mother-cell-membrane ATPase 4. In bacteriorhodopsin-containing everted membrane vesicles, the specific ATP synthetase activity of the mother-cell-membrane ATPase was significantly greater than that of the vegetative-cell-membrane ATPase. 5. Treatment with trypsin-sensitive inhibitor protein of artificial proteoliposomes containing bacteriorhodopsin and vegetative-cell-membrane H(+)-ATPase (BF(0)F(1)) significantly increased the specific ATP synthetase activity of this enzyme. 6. The ATP synthetase activity of crude cell-membrane preparations from cultures of Clostridium pasteurianum increased during that period in the course of sporulation when the membrane ATP phosphohydrolase was both most rapidly decreasing in specific activity and acquiring its susceptibility to activation by trypsin.     

Effect of proteolytic digestion on the Ca2+-ATPase activity and subunits of latent and thiol-activated chloroplast coupling factor 1

The activation by proteases of the Ca2+-dependent ATPase of chloroplast coupling factor 1 (CF1) has been investigated. Using low concentrations of papain and trypsin, the increase in ATPase activity and the degradation of the five subunits of CF1 were compared. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis of protease-treated CF1 revealed that the delta subunit was very rapidly degraded and that the alpha and beta subunits were clipped. The gamma and epsilon subunits were more resistant to digestion. The modification of the alpha subunit of latent CF1 most closely correlated with the activation of Ca2+-ATPase activity. Trypsin treatment of dithiothreitol-activated CF1 resulted in a very rapid increase in Ca2+-ATPase activity and a corresponding rapid cleavage of the gamma subunit to a 25,000-dalton species. With more prolonged treatment, the 25,000-dalton species was cleaved to fragments of 14,000 and 11,000-daltons. Dithiothreitol treatment did not alter the rate of attack on the other subunits. The gamma subunit of heat-activated CF1 was also more susceptible to protease digestion. The increased protease sensitivity of the gamma subunit of soluble CF1 after treatment with dithiothreitol or heat mimics the increased protease sensitivity of the gamma subunit of bound CF1 when thylakoids are treated with trypsin during illumination (Moroney, J. V., and McCarty, R. E. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 5915-5920). These results suggest that the conformational changes that occur when purified CF1 is exposed to dithiothreitol are similar to those that CF1 bound to thylakoid membranes undergoes under illumination.     

Activation and inhibition of the Escherichia coli F1-ATPase by monoclonal antibodies which recognize the epsilon subunit

The properties of two monoclonal antibodies which recognize the epsilon subunit of Escherichia coli F1-ATPase were studied in detail. The epsilon subunit is a tightly bound but dissociable inhibitor of the ATPase activity of soluble F1-ATPase. Antibody epsilon-1 binds free epsilon with a dissociation constant of 2.4 nM but cannot bind epsilon when it is associated with F1-ATPase. Likewise epsilon cannot associate with F1-ATPase in the presence of high concentrations of epsilon-1. Thus epsilon-1 activates F1-ATPase which contains the epsilon subunit, and prevents added epsilon from inhibiting the enzyme. Epsilon-1 cannot bind to membrane-bound F1-ATPase. The epsilon-4 antibody binds free epsilon with a dissociation constant of 26 nM. Epsilon-4 can bind to the F1-ATPase complex, but, like epsilon-1, it reverses the inhibition of F1-ATPase by the epsilon subunit. The epsilon subunit remains crosslinkable to both the beta and gamma subunits in the presence of epsilon-4, indicating that it is not grossly displaced from its normal position by the antibody. Presumably the activation arises from more subtle conformational effects. Antibodies epsilon-4 and delta-2, which recognizes the delta subunit, both bind to F1F0 in E. coli membrane vesicles, indicating that these subunits are substantially exposed in the membrane-bound complex. Epsilon-4 inhibits the ATPase activity of the membrane-bound enzyme by about 50%, and Fab prepared from epsilon-4 inhibits by about 40%. This inhibition is not associated with any substantial change in the major apparent Km for ATP. These results suggest that inhibition of membrane-bound F1-ATPase arises from steric effects of the antibody.     

Purification and characterization of the F1 ATPase from Bacillus subtilis and its uncoupler-resistant mutant derivatives.

The F1 ATPase of Bacillus subtilis BD99 was extracted from everted membrane vesicles by low-ionic-strength treatment and purified by DEAE-cellulose chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography. The subunit structure of the enzyme was examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the absence and presence of urea. In the absence of urea, the alpha and beta subunits comigrated and the ATPase was resolved into four bands. The mobility of the beta subunit, identified by immunoblotting with anti-beta from Escherichia coli F1, was altered dramatically by the presence of urea, causing it to migrate more slowly than the alpha subunit. The catalytic activity of the ATPase was strongly metal dependent; in the absence of effectors, the Ca2+-ATPase activity was 15- to 20-fold higher than the Mg2+ -ATPase activity. On the other hand, sulfite anion, methanol, and optimally, octylglucoside stimulated the Mg2+ -ATPase activity up to twice the level of Ca2+ -ATPase activity (specific activity, about 80 mumol of Pi per min per mg of protein). The F1 ATPase was also isolated from mutants of B. subtilis that had been isolated and characterized in this laboratory by their ability to grow in the presence of protonophores. The specific activities of the ATPase preparations from the mutant and the wild type were very similar for both Mg2+- and Ca2+ -dependent activities. Kinetic parameters (Vmax and Km for Mg-ATP) for octylglucoside-stimulated Mg2+ -ATPase activity were similar in both preparations. Structural analysis by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing indicated that the five F1 subunits from ATPase preparations from the mutant and wild-type strains had identical apparent molecular weights and that no charge differences were detectable in the alpha and beta subunits in the two preparations. Thus, the increased ATPase activity that had been observed in the uncoupler-resistant mutants is probably not due to a mutation in the F1 moiety of the ATPase complex.     

Subunit analysis of latent and non-latent F1-ATPase from Micrococcus lysodeikticus (luteus)

Limited trypsin and chymotrypsin digestions were performed on the latent F1-ATPase from M. lysodeikticus, and subsequent analysis on SDS-polyacrylamide gels revealed subunit profiles with degraded alpha and delta subunits similar to those of ATPase preparations with spontaneously occurring lower degrees of latency. The ATPase obtained from M. lysodeikticus membranes after n-butanol extraction was also non-latent with similar SDS-gel patterns to the aforementioned ATPases. In addition, the sensitive technique of crossed immunoelectrophoresis was used to show that all of the above ATPases contained alpha, beta, gamma, delta and epsilon subunits but some of them were in degraded forms. Although the delta subunit was the first to be cleaved, the loss of latency can be attributed to the degradation of the alpha subunit.     

The interaction of mitochondrial F1-ATPase with the natural ATPase inhibitor protein

The interaction of soluble mitochondrial ATPase from beef heart with the natural ATPase inhibitor was studied. It was found that the phosphorylation of small amounts of ADP by phosphoenolpyruvate and pyruvate kinase, and an ensuing catalytic cycle supports the binding of the inhibitor to the enzyme. The association of the inhibitor with F1-ATPase does not increase the content of ATP in the F1-ATPase-inhibitor complex. The inhibitor of catalytic activity bathophenanthroline-Fe2+ chelate prevents the interaction, while the association of the inhibitor with F1-ATPase is delayed if the reaction is carried out in 2H2O. The date indicate that a transient state involved in the catalytic cycle is the form of the enzyme that interacts with the inhibitor. The proton-motive force-induced dissociation of the inhibitor from particulate ATPase is prevented by bathophenanthroline-Fe2+ chelate and nitrobenzofurazan chloride, which indicates that a functional catalytic (beta) subunit is required for the proton-motive force-induced release of the inhibitor. The data suggest a direct involvement of catalytic (beta) subunit in the mechanism by which the F1-ATPase senses the proton-motive force.     

Redox regulation of the rotation of F(1)-ATP synthase

In F(1)-ATPase, the smallest known motor enzyme, unidirectional rotation of the central axis subunit gamma is coupled to ATP hydrolysis. In the present study, we report the redox switching of the rotation of this enzyme. For this purpose, the switch region from the gamma subunit of the redox-sensitive chloroplast F(1)-ATPase was introduced into the bacterial F(1)-ATPase. The ATPase activity of the obtained complex was increased up to 3-fold upon reduction (Bald, D., Noji, H., Stumpp, M. T., Yoshida, M. & Hisabori, T. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 12757-12762). Here, we successfully observed the modulation of rotation of gamma in this chimeric complex by changes in the redox conditions. In addition we revealed that the suppressed enzymatic activity of the oxidized F(1)-ATPase complex was characterized by more frequent long pauses in the rotation of the gamma subunit. These findings obtained by the single molecule analysis therefore provide new insights into the mechanisms of enzyme regulation.     

Subunit composition of the H+-ATPase complex from anaerobic bacterium Lactobacillus casei

The H+-ATPase complex has been isolated from the membranes of the anaerobic bacterium Lactobacillus casei by two independent methods. 1. The crossed-immunoelectrophoresis of the 14C-labelled ATPase complex against antibodies to a highly purified soluble ATPase has been used. The subunit composition of the complex has been established by autoradiography. The soluble part of L. casei ATPase, in contrast to coupling factor F1-ATPases of aerobic bacteria, chloroplasts and mitochondria which include two kinds of large subunit (alpha and beta), consists of one kind of large subunit with a molecular mass of 43 kDa. Moreover, a minor polypeptide of 25 kDa has been found in the soluble ATPase. Factor F0 of L. casei ATPase complex consists of a 16-kDa subunit and two subunits with molecular masses less than 14 kDa. 2. A dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-sensitive ATPase complex has been isolated from L. casei membranes by treating them with a mixture of octyl glucoside and sodium cholate. The complex, purified by centrifugation on a sucrose density gradient, contains the main subunits with molecular masses of 43 kDa, 25 kDa and 16 kDa and a dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-binding subunit with a molecular mass less than 14 kDa.     

Coupling factor F1 ATPase with defective beta subunit from a mutant of Escherichia coli

The defective coupling factor F1 ATPase from a mutant strain (KF11) of Escherichia coli was purified to a practically homogeneous form. The final specific activity of Mg2+-ATPase was 6-9 units/mg protein, which is about 10-15 times lower than that of F1 ATPase from the wild-type strain. The mutant F1 had a ratio of Ca2+-ATPase to Mg2+-ATPase of about 3.5, whereas the wild-type F1 had ratio of about 0.8. The mutant F1 was more unstable than wild-type F1: on storage at -80 degrees C for 2 weeks, about 80% of its activity (dependent on Ca2+ or Mg2+) was lost, whereas none of the activity of the wild-type F1 was lost. The following results indicate that the mutation is in the beta subunit. (i) High Mg2+-ATPase activity (about 20 units/mg protein) was reconstituted when the beta subunit from wild type F1 was added to dissociated mutant F1 and the mixture was dialyzed against buffer containing ATP and Mg2+. (ii) Low ATPase activity having the same ratio of Ca2+-ATPase to Mg2+-ATPase as the mutant F1 was reconstituted when a mixture of the beta subunit from the mutant F1 and the alpha and gamma subunits from wild-type F1 was dialyzed against the same buffer. (iii) Tryptic peptide analysis of the beta subunit of the mutant showed a difference in a single peptide compared with the wild-type strain.     

Similarity of lysosomal H+-ATPase to mitochondrial F0F1-ATPase in sensitivity to anions and drugs as revealed by solubilization and reconstitution

Lysosomal H+-translocating ATPase (H+-ATPase) was solubilized with lysophosphatidylcholine and reconstituted into liposomes (Moriyama, Y., Takano, T. and Ohkuma, S. (1984) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 96, 927-930). In this study, the sensitivities of membrane-bound, solubilized and liposome-incorporated ATPase to various anions and drugs were measured in comparison with those of similar forms of mitochondrial H+-ATPase (mitochondrial F0F1-ATPase) with the following results. (1) Bicarbonate and sulfite activated solubilized lysosomal H+-ATPase, but not the membrane-bound ATPase or ATPase incorporated into liposomes. All three forms of mitochondrial F0F1-ATPase were activated by these anions. (2) All three forms of both lysosomal H+-ATPase and mitochondrial F0F1-ATPase were strongly inhibited by SCN-, NO3- and F-, but scarcely affected by Cl-, Br- and SO2-4. (3) The solubilized lysosomal H+-ATPase was strongly inhibited by azide, quercetin, 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl), 4-acetamido-4'-isothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (SITS), 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS) and oligomycin. Its sensitivity was almost the same as that of mitochondrial F0F1-ATPase. Neither membrane-bound ATPase nor ATPase incorporated into liposomes was affected appreciably by these drugs. These results indicate that the sensitivity to anions and drugs of lysosomal H+-ATPase depends on the form of the enzyme and that the sensitivity of the solubilized lysosomal H+-ATPase is very similar to that of mitochondrial F0F1-ATPase. On the other hand, the two ATPases differ in their sensitivity to N-ethylmaleimide and pyridoxal phosphate: only the mitochondrial ATPase is inhibited by pyridoxal phosphate whereas only the lysosomal ATPase is inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide.     

Reconstitution of mitochondrial oligomycin and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-sensitive ATPase

1. Oligomycin and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-sensitive ATPase was isolated from beef-heart mitochondria and treated with 3.5 M NaBr in order to remove F1. The residue, called F0, was found to consist of seven components. Five of these are stained by Coomassie blue after dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. Two of them correspond to the oligomycin-sensitivity-conferring protein and coupling factor F6, with apparent molecular weights of 21,000 and 9,400, respectively. Three additional polypeptides of molecular weights 23,000, 10,500 and 8,600 were not identified with known proteins. Two components not stained with Coomassie blue were detected by autoradiography of the gels of F0 preincubated with [14C]dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. These two components probably represent monomeric and oligomeric forms of the dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-binding protein. 2. F0 induced an oligomycin and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-sensitive enhancement of K+ + valinomycin-driven proton translocation across the membrane of artificial phospholipid vesicles. 3. The interaction of F0 with purified, soluble beef heart F1 was investigated. F0 was capable of binding F1 and conferring oligomycin and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide sensitivity and cold stability on its ATPase activity. Furthermore F0 was found to diminish the specific activity of F1-ATPase. A comparison of these effects at varying F0/F1 ratios shows that F0 binds F1 in both an oligomycin-sensitive and an oligomycin-insensitive manner, and that both types of binding involve a conferral of cold stability and a decrease in specific activity. High F0/F1 ratios favoured in oligomycin-sensitive type of binding, indicating that F1 binds preferentially to oligomycin-sensitivity-conferring sites. Treatment of ATPase complex with trypsin resulted in an F0 with a decreased proportion of oligomycin-sensitivity-conferring binding sites and a diminished ability to lower the specific activity an cold lability of F1. 4. Reconstitution of F0 treated with trypsin and F1, oligomycin-sensitivity-conferring protein and F6 showed that at a constant amount of F1 bound, both oligomycin-sensitivity-conferring protein and F6 increased the oligomycin sensitivity of ATPase activity. It was therefore concluded that both of these coupling factors are involved in the conferral of oligomycin sensitivity. 5. The effect of the order of addition of F1, oligomycin-sensitivity-conferring protein and F6 to F0 on the reconstitution of oligomycin-sensitive ATPase activity, and of F1 and oligomycin-sensitivity-conferring protein to submitochondrial particles on the reconstitution of respiratory control, was investigated. The highest values of oligomycin sensitivity and respiratory control were obtained when F1 was added as the first component, indicating that F1 plays a directing role in the organisation of the components.     

Binding properties of 9K protein to F1-ATPase: a counterpart ligand to the ATPase inhibitor

A regulatory subunit of yeast mitochondrial ATP synthase, 9K protein, formed an equimolar complex with F1-ATPase in the presence of ATP and Mg2+, indicating that the binding of the protein to the enzyme took place in a similar manner to that of ATPase inhibitor. The ATP-hydrolyzing activity of F1-ATPase decreased 40% on binding of the 9K protein, and the remaining activity was resistant to external ATPase inhibitor. The apparent dissociation constant of the F1-ATPase-9K complex was determined by gel permeation chromatography to be 3.7 X 10(-6) M, which was in the same order of magnitude as that of enzyme-ATPase inhibitor complex (4.2 x 10(-6) M). When added simultaneously the binding of the inhibitor and 9K protein to F1-ATPase were competitive and the sum of their bindings did not exceed 1 mol per mol of enzyme. However, the binding of each protein ligand to F1-ATPase took more than 1 min for completion, and when one of these two proteins was added 10 min after the other, it did not replace the other. These observations strongly suggest that membrane-bound F1-ATPase always binds to either the 9K protein or ATPase inhibitor in intact mitochondria and that the complexes with the two ligands are active and inactive counterparts, respectively.     

Aurovertin binds to the beta subunit of yeast mitochondrial ATPase.

Isolated beta subunit of ATPase (F1) from yeast mitochondria does not catalyze an ATPase reaction but still binds the specific F1 inhibitor aurovertin. Binding was measured by enhancement of aurovertin fluorescence; it was as tight as that to F1-ATPase. No binding was observed with F1 or with isolated beta subunit from a single-gene nuclear yeast mutant whose F1-ATPase was resistant to aurovertin.     

Mutations in the conserved proline 43 residue of the uncE protein (subunit c) of Escherichia coli F1F0-ATPase alter the coupling of F1 to F0

The conserved Pro43 residue of the uncE protein (subunit c) of the Escherichia coli F1F0-ATPase was changed to Ser or Ala by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis, and the mutations were incorporated into the chromosome. The resultant mutant strains were capable of oxidative phosphorylation as indicated by their ability to grow on succinate and had growth yields on glucose that were 80-90% of wild type. Membrane vesicles from the mutants were slightly less efficient than wild type vesicles in ATP-driven proton pumping as indicated by ATP-dependent quenching of quinacrine fluorescence. The decreased quenching response was not due to increased H+ leakiness of the mutant membranes or to loss of F1-ATPase activity from the membrane. These results indicate that the mutant F1F0-ATPases are defective in coupling ATP hydrolysis to H+ translocation. The membrane ATPase activity of the mutants was inhibited less by dicyclohexylcarbodiimide than that of wild type. The decrease in sensitivity to inhibition by dicyclohexylcarbodiimide was caused primarily by dissociation of the F1-ATPase from the mutant F0 in the ATPase assay mixture. These results support the idea that Pro43, and neighboring conserved polar residues play an important role in the binding and functional coupling of F1 to F0. Although a Pro residue is found at position 43 in all species of subunit c studied, surprisingly, it is not absolutely essential to function.     

Complementation of a Schizosaccharomyces pombe mutant lacking the beta subunit of the mitochondrial ATPase by the ATP2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

A chimeric plasmid carrying the structural gene (ATP2) for the mitochondrial ATPase beta subunit of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used to complement a mutant of Schizosaccharomyces pombe lacking the beta subunit (Boutry, M., and Goffeau, A. (1982) Eur. J. Biochem. 125, 471-477). Transformation with ATP2 restored the growth rate of S. pombe mutant on glycerol as well as the mitochondrial ATPase and 32Pi-ATP exchange activities to approximately 20% of the parental strain. Mitochondria prepared from the transformant contained a normal amount of a hybrid F1-ATPase consisting of the S. cerevisiae beta subunit assembled with the remaining subunits of the S. pombe ATPase complex. The presence of the S. cerevisiae beta subunit in the S. pombe ATPase complex conferred a sensitivity to the energy transfer inhibitors citreoviridin and oligomycin which was like that of the intact S. cerevisiae enzyme. The S. cerevisiae beta subunit assembled into the hybrid ATPase complex was the same size as the mature subunit in S. cerevisiae. These data indicate that the mechanism of mitochondrial import and the assembly of the cytoplasmically synthesized subunits is similar or identical in these evolutionary divergent yeasts. In addition, this study provides a new approach for the construction of hybrid mitochondrial ATPase complexes which can be used to examine the function of selected subunits in energy transduction.     

A homologous sequence between H+-ATPase (F0F1) and cation-transporting ATPases. Thr-285----Asp replacement in the beta subunit of Escherichia coli F1 changes its catalytic properties

A sequence of 10 amino acids (I-C-S-D-K-T-G-T-L-T) of ion motive ATPases such as Na+/K+-ATPase is similar to the sequence of the beta subunit of H+-ATPases, including that of Escherichia coli (I-T-S-T-K-T-G-S-I-T) (residues 282-291). The Asp (D) residue phosphorylated in ion motive ATPase corresponds to Thr (T) of the beta subunit. This substitution may be reasonable because there is no phosphoenzyme intermediate in the catalytic cycle of F1-ATPase. We replaced Thr-285 of the beta subunit by an Asp residue by in vitro mutagenesis and reconstituted the alpha beta gamma complex from the mutant (or wild-type) beta and wild-type alpha and gamma subunits. The uni- and multisite ATPase activities of the alpha beta gamma complex with mutant beta subunits were about 20 and 30% of those with the wild-type subunit. The rate of ATP binding (k1) of the mutant complex under uni-site conditions was about 10-fold less than that of the wild-type complex. These results suggest that Thr-285, or the region in its vicinity, is essential for normal catalysis of the H+-ATPase. The mutant complex could not form a phosphoenzyme under the conditions where the H+/K+-ATPase is phosphorylated, suggesting that another residue(s) may also be involved in formation of the intermediate in ion motive ATPase. The wild-type alpha beta gamma complex had slightly different kinetic properties from the wild-type F1, possibly because it did not contain the epsilon subunit.     

Mitochondrial H+-ATPase in mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with defective subunit 8 of the enzyme complex

Mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae carrying defined lesions in the mitochondrial aap1 gene, coding for membrane subunit 8 of the H+-ATPase, have been investigated to examine the consequence of the mutations on the function and assembly of the enzyme complex. These include three mit- mutants, which cannot grow by oxidative metabolism due to their inability to synthesize full-length subunit 8, and three partial revertants of one of the mutants. The mutations in these strains have been previously characterized by DNA sequencing. The use of a monoclonal antibody to the beta subunit of the H+-ATPase as a probe of assembly defect revealed that the presence of subunit 8 is essential for the assembly of subunit 6 to the enzyme complex. Mitochondria isolated from the mit- mutants have negligible [32Pi]ATP exchange activity and they exhibited ATPase activity which is not sensitive to inhibition by oligomycin, indicating a defective membrane F0 sector. Normal assembly of subunit 8 (and subunit 6) was observed in the revertant strains, despite 8-9 amino-acid substitutions in the membrane-spanning region of the H+-ATPase subunit 8 in two of the strains. The assembled complex, however, exhibited reduced [32Pi]ATP exchange activity and low sensitivity to oligomycin, indicating that the product of the aap1 gene is a functional subunit of the mitochondrial H+-ATPase.     

Spermine binding to submitochondrial particles and activation of adenosine triphosphatase.

Studies on the effects of polyamines on oligomycin-sensitive ATPase activity of ox heart submitochondrial particles showed that, of the polyamines tested, only spermine affected the enzyme activity. Spermine within the physiological concentration range increased the Vmax. of the enzyme, but the Km for ATP was virtually unaffected. Binding studies of [14C]spermine to submitochondrial particles, under the same conditions as used for the ATPase assay, showed that the spermine binds to submitochondrial particles in a co-operative way; Hill plots of the data gave a Hill coefficient of 2 and a Kd of 8 microM. When submitochondrial particles were treated with trypsin, ATPase was not stimulated by spermine and the amount of spermine bound concomitantly was drastically decreased. The ATPase activity of isolated F1-ATPase was not affected by spermine. Removal of the natural protein ATPase inhibitor did not suppress either the stimulation of the ATPase activity by spermine or the spermine binding to the particles. The results obtained suggested that the polyamine binds and acts at the level of the liaison between the coupling factor F1 and the membrane sector F0 of the ATPase complex.     

Subunit interaction in the mitochondrial H+-translocating ATPase. The role of oligomycin sensitivity conferral protein and coupling factor 6 in ATPase binding and Pi-ATP exchange in mitochondrial membranes

Oligomycin sensitivity conferral protein, in the absence of coupling factor 6 (F6), is able to bind the ATPase to mitochondrial membranes with an apparent association constant of 10(6) M-1. The F6-dependent ATPase binding has an apparent association constant 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than that obtained with oligomycin sensitivity conferral protein. The oligomycin sensitivity conferral protein-dependent, membrane-bound ATPase activity is sensitive to rutamycin while the F6-dependent, membrane-bound ATPase activity is insensitive to rutamycin. F1-ATPase and Type II ATPase require F6 in addition to oligomycin sensitivity conferral protein and FB to reconstitute 32Pi-ATP exchange activity in silicotungstic acid particles. This F6 requirement for the 32Pi-ATP exchange is not related to the F6 effect on the ATPase binding. The Type I ATPase and therefore the 26,500-dalton subunit associated with it requires F6 and FB to reconstitute 32Pi-ATP exchange activity in silicotungstic acid particles. Oligomycin sensitivity conferral protein can be interchanged with the 26,500-dalton ATPase binding protein in the binding of the ATPase and the 32Pi-ATP exchange.     

ATP Synthase of Chloroplast Thylakoid Membranes: A More in Depth Characterization of Its ATPase Activity

In contrast to everted mitochondrial inner membrane vesicles and eubacterial plasma membrane vesicles, the ATPase activity of chloroplast ATP synthase in thylakoid membranes is extremely low. Several treatments of thylakoids that unmask ATPase activity are known. Illumination of thylakoids that contain reduced ATP synthase (reduced thylakoids) promotes the hydrolysis of ATP in the dark. Incubation of thylakoids with trypsin can also elicit higher rates of ATPase activity. In this paper the properties of the ATPase activity of the ATP synthase in thylakoids treated with trypsin are compared with those of the ATPase activity in reduced thylakoids. The trypsin-treated membranes have significant ATPase activity in the presence of Ca²⁺, whereas the Ca²⁺-ATPase activity of reduced thylakoids is very low. The Mg²⁺-ATPase activity of the trypsinized thylakoids was only partially inhibited by the uncouplers, at concentrations that fully inhibit the ATPase activity of reduced membranes. Incubation of reduced thylakoids with ADP in Tris buffer prior to assay abolishes Mg²⁺-ATPase activity. The Mg²⁺-ATPase activity of trypsin-treated thylakoids was unaffected by incubation with ADP. Trypsin-treated membranes can make ATP at rates that are 75–80% of those of untreated thylakoids. The Mg²⁺-ATPase activity of trypsin-treated thylakoids is coupled to inward proton translocation and 10 mM sulfite stimulates both proton uptake and ATP hydrolysis. It is concluded that cleavage of the γ subunit of the ATP synthase by trypsin prevents inhibition of ATPase activity by the ε subunit, but only partially overcomes inhibition by Mg²⁺ and ADP during assay.