The acceleration of Na+,K+-ATPase activity by ATP and ATP analogues

Since Na+,K+-ATPase (EC 3.6.1.3) of pig kidney modified with a fluorescent sulfhydryl reagent, N-p-(2-benzimidazolyl) phenyl]maleimide, at Cys-964 of the alpha-chain showed ATP-dependent, reversible, and dynamic fluorescence changes (Nagai, M., Taniguchi, K., Kangawa, K., Matsuo, S., Nakamura, S., and Iida, S. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 13197-13202), we studied the conformational change during Na+,K+-ATPase reaction using the modified enzyme. The addition of K+ to the enzyme increased the fluorescence intensity to 2% in the presence of 160 mM Na+ and 3 mM Mg2+ (K0.5 = 16.4 mM). Addition of low concentrations of ATP immediately increased the intensity to 3.2% (K0.5 less than 0.1 microM) to accumulate fully K+-bound enzyme in the presence of 43 mM K+ with Na+ and Mg2+, but further addition of higher concentrations of ATP diminished the increase (K0.5 = 120 microM). After exhaustion of ATP, the fluorescence intensity decreased to -0.4% (K0.5 = 0.3 microM) and -2% (K0.5 = 20 microM), respectively, in the presence of low and high concentrations of ADP produced from ATP. High concentrations of ATP accelerated Na+,K+-ATPase activity with a simultaneous increase in the amount of ADP-sensitive phosphoenzyme irrespective of the modification. Adenylyl imidodiphosphate and ADP accelerated Na+,K+-ATPase activity in the presence of 2.7 microM ATP by decreasing the extent of the fluorescence without affecting the amount of phosphoenzyme, irrespective of the modification. These data suggest that Na+,K+-ATPase activity was accelerated due to the acceleration of the breakdown of K+-bound enzyme by high concentrations of ATP and ATP analogues.