The incorporation of 32Pi into intramitochondrial ADP fraction dependent on the substrate-level phosphorylation

1. A significant amount of ³²P_i is incorporated into ADP fraction if mitochondrial phosphorylation is allowed to proceed solely dependent on the endogenous adenine nucleotides even in the absence of uncouplers or inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation. This formation of [³²P]ADP is accompanied by a significant labelling of the GTP fraction as well as by a decrease in mitochondrial AMP.2. A good correlation, highly significant on a statistical basis, is obtained between the incorporation of ³²P_i into ADP on the one hand and the oxidation of [1-¹⁴C]glutamate to ¹⁴CO₂ on the other, under a wide variety of conditions of respiration, suggesting that the substrate-level phosphorylation linked to the oxidation of 2-oxoglutarate leads to the phosphorylation of AMP in rat liver mitochondria.3. Since intramitochondrial GTP is not directly labelled by the [³²P]ATP added, it is concluded that neither nucleoside diphosphokinase (ATP:nucleoside diphosphate phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.4.6) nor adenylate kinase (ATP:AMP phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.4.3) is functioning in such an EDTA-containing medium as employed in the present study because of lack of the enzymes inside the inner membrane. This not only indicates that ATP never serves as a phosphate donor for the observed phosphorylation of AMP, but also, along with several other lines of evidence, lends strong support to the view that [³²P]GTP generated as a result of the substrate-level phosphorylation is a direct precursor of [³²P]ADP through the mediation of GTP:AMP phosphotransferase, which has been verified to be located inside the inner membrane by the significant labelling of GTP by [³²P]ADP.