Characterization and function of catalytic subunit alpha of H+-translocating adenosine triphosphatase from vacuolar membranes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A study with 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole

Subunit alpha (Mr 89,000) from vacuolar membrane H+-translocating adenosine triphosphatase of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was found to bind 8-azidoalpha-32P]adenosine triphosphate. Labeling by this photosensitive ATP derivative was saturable with an apparent dissociation constant of 10(-6) to 10(-5) M and decreased in the presence of ATP and ADP. The enzyme was inactivated by 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl), with about 1 microM causing half-maximal inactivation in the neutral pH range. This inactivation was prevented by the presence of ATP, ADP, or adenosyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate (AMP-PNP). The original activity was restored by treating the inactivated enzyme with 2-mercaptoethanol. Kinetic and chemical studies of the inactivation showed that the activity was lost on chemical modification of a single tyrosine residue per molecule of the enzyme. When the enzyme was inactivated with 14C]NBD-Cl, subunit alpha was specifically labeled, and this labeling was completely prevented by the presence of ATP, GTP, ADP, or AMP-PNP. From these results, it was concluded that subunit alpha of yeast vacuolar H+-ATPase has a catalytic site that contains a single, essential tyrosine residue. The kinetics of single site hydrolysis of gamma-32P]ATP (Grubmeyer, C., Cross, R. L., and Penefsky, H. S. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 12092-12100) indicated the formation of an enzyme-ATP complex and subsequent hydrolysis of bound ATP to ADP and Pi at the NBD-Cl-sensitive catalytic site. NBD-Cl inactivated the single site hydrolysis and inhibited the formation of an enzyme-ATP complex. Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide did not affect the single site hydrolysis, but inhibited the enzyme activity under steady-state conditions.