Kinetic mechanism of Fo x F1 mitochondrial ATPase: Mg2+ requirement for Mg x ATP hydrolysis

The initial rates of ATP hydrolysis catalyzed by Fo x F1 (bovine heart submitochondrial particles) preincubated in the presence of Pi for complete activation of the oligomycin-sensitive ATPase were measured as a function of ATP, Mg2+, and Mg x ATP concentrations. The results suggest the mechanism in which Mg x ATP complex is the true substrate of the ATPase and the second Mg2+ bound at a specific pH-dependent site is needed for the catalysis. Simple hyperbolic Michaelis--Menten dependences of the reaction rate on the substrate (Mg x ATP) and activating Mg2+ were found. In contrast to the generally accepted view, no inhibition of ATPase by free Mg2+ was found. Inhibition of the reaction by free ATP is due to a decrease of free Mg2+ needed for the catalysis. In the presence of both Ca2+ and Mg2+ the kinetics of ATP hydrolysis suggest that the Ca x ATP complex is neither hydrolyzed nor competes with Mg x ATP, and free Ca2+ does not affect the hydrolysis of Mg x ATP complex. A crucial role of free Mg2+ in the time-dependent inhibition of ATPase by azide is shown. The dependence of apparent Km for Mg x ATP on saturation of the Mg2+-specific site suggests the formal ping-pong mechanism in which bound Mg2+ participates in the overall reaction after dissociation of one product (most likely Pi) thus promoting either release of ADP (catalytic turnover) or slow isomerization of the enzyme--product complex (formation of the dead-end ADP(Mg2+)-inhibited enzyme). The rate of Mg x ATP hydrolysis only slightly depends on pH at saturating Mg2+. In the presence of limited amounts of free Mg2+ the pH dependence of the initial rate corresponds to the titration of a single group with pKa = 7.5. The simple competition between H+ and activating Mg2+ was observed. The specific role of Mg2+ as a coupling cation for energy transduction in Fo x F1-ATPase is discussed.