Inhibition of sodium and potassium adenosine triphosphatase by 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrocyclohexadienylidene) adenine nucleotides. Implications for the structure and mechanism of the Na:K pump

Trinitrophenyl derivatives of adenine nucleotides (TNP-nucleotides: 2',3'-O-2,4,6-trinitrocyclohexadienylidene complexes at neutral or basic pH) are potent inhibitors of (Na,K)-ATPase activity. The inhibitory potency of the derivatives tested followed the sequence: TNP-ADP greater than TNP-ATP greater than TNP-AMP much greater than TNP-IMP greater than TNP-adenosine. In the presence of Na+ plus K+, high and low affinity activation of ATPase activity by ATP was observed. Under these conditions, TNP-ATP inhibited (Na,K)-ATPase activity competitively with respect to ATP at the kinetically defined "low affinity ATP site." In the presence of Na+ alone, only high affinity activation by ATP was observed. Under these conditions, TNP-ATP inhibited (Na)-ATPase and enzyme phosphorylation by competing with ATP at the kinetically defined "high affinity ATP site." The Ki values for inhibition were similar to the KD values determined by direct TNP-ATP binding measurements, indicating that the same TNP-ATP site is involved in the inhibition of (Na,K)-ATPase and (Na)-ATPase activities. We conclude that high and low affinity ATP "sites" are interconvertible (i.e. they represent two forms of the same site) and do not co-exist independently. TNP-ATP also inhibited competitively the K+-stimulated p-nitrophenyl phosphatase activity and enzyme phosphorylation by Pi, suggesting that the catalytic site for these substrates is associated with the TNP-ATP site. A kinetic model for (Na,K)-ATPase turnover based on a single ATP site which changes affinity during turnover is presented. The model was analyzed by the King-Altman (1956) J. Phys. Chem. 60, 1375-1378) method to obtain the steady state equation for the rate of ATP hydrolysis as a function of ATP concentration. Computer simulations using published values of the rate constants of intermediate steps suggest that the model is adequate to describe the observed dependence of enzyme activity on ATP concentration and the inhibition by TNP-ATP. The implications of these results on the structure and mechanism of the (Na,K) pump are discussed.