ATP formation onset lag and post-illumination phosphorylation initiated with single-turnover flashes. II. Two modes of post-illumination phosphorylation driven by either delocalized or localized proton gradient coupling

A protet-based, protonic charge transfer model of energy coupling in oxidative and photosynthetic phosphorylation

Textbooks of biochemistry will explain that the otherwise endergonic reactions of ATP synthesis can be driven by the exergonic reactions of respiratory electron transport, and that these two half-reactions are catalyzed by protein complexes embedded in the same, closed membrane. These views are correct. The textbooks also state that, according to the chemiosmotic coupling hypothesis, a (or the) kinetically and thermodynamically competent intermediate linking the two half-reactions is the electrochemical difference of protons that is in equilibrium with that between the two bulk phases that the coupling membrane serves to separate. This gradient consists of a membrane potential term Δψ and a pH gradient term ΔpH, and is known colloquially as the protonmotive force or pmf. Artificial imposition of a pmf can drive phosphorylation, but only if the pmf exceeds some 150-170mV; to achieve in vivo rates the imposed pmf must reach 200mV. The key question then is 'does the pmf generated by electron transport exceed 200mV, or even 170mV?' The possibly surprising answer, from a great many kinds of experiment and sources of evidence, including direct measurements with microelectrodes, indicates it that it does not. Observable pH changes driven by electron transport are real, and they control various processes; however, compensating ion movements restrict the Δψ component to low values. A protet-based model, that I outline here, can account for all the necessary observations, including all of those inconsistent with chemiosmotic coupling, and provides for a variety of testable hypotheses by which it might be refined.

Calcium gating of H+ fluxes in chloroplasts affects acid-base-driven ATP formation

In previous work, calcium ions, bound at the lumenal side of the CF0H+ channel, were suggested to keep a H+ flux gating site closed, favoring sequestered domain H+ ions flowing directly into the CF0-CF1 and driving ATP formation by a localized delta approximately mu H+ gradient. Treatments expected to displace Ca++ from binding sites had the effect of allowing H+ ions in the sequestered domains to equilibrate with the lumen, and energy coupling showed delocalized characteristics. The existence of such a gating function implies that a closed-gate configuration would block lumenal H+ ions from entering the CF0-CF1 complex. In this work that prediction was tested using as an assay the dark, acid-base jump ATP formation phenomenon driven by H+ ions derived from succinic acid loaded into the lumen. Chlorpromazine, a photoaffinity probe for many proteins having high-affinity Ca(++)-binding sites, covalently binds to the 8-kDa CF0 subunit in the largest amounts when there is sufficient Ca++ to favor the localized energy coupling mode, i.e., the "gate closed" configuration. Photoaffinity-bound chlorpromazine blocked 50% or more of the succinate-dependent acid-base jump ATP formation, provided that the ionic conditions during the UV photoaffinity treatment were those which favor a localized energy coupling pattern and a higher level of chlorpromazine labeling of the 8-kDa CF0 subunit. Thylakoids held under conditions favoring a delocalized energy coupling mode and less chlorpromazine labeling of the CF0 subunit did not show any inhibition of acid-base jump ATP formation. Chlorpromazine and calmidazolium, another Ca(++)-binding site probe, were also shown to block redox-derived H+ initially released into sequestered domains from entering the lumen, at low levels of domain H+ accumulation, but not at higher H+ uptake levels; ie., the closed gate state can be overcome by sufficiently acidic conditions. That is consistent with the observation that the inhibition of lumenal succinate-dependent ATP formation by photoaffinity-attached chlorpromazine can be reversed by lowering the pH of the acid stage from 5.5 to 4.5. The evidence is consistent with the concept that Ca++ bound at the lumenal side of the CF0 H+ channel can block H+ flux from either direction, consistent with the existence of a molecular structure in the CF0 complex having the properties of a gate for H+ flux across the inner boundary of the CF0. Such a gate could control the expression of localized or delocalized delta approximately mu H+ energy coupling gradients.

Calcium-dependent interaction of chlorpromazine with the chloroplast 8-kilodalton CF0 protein and calcium gating of H+ fluxes between thylakoid membrane domains and the lumen

Earlier work suggested that Ca2+ ions in the chloroplast thylakoid lumen interact with thylakoid membrane proteins to produce a proton flux gating structure which functions to regulate the expression of the energy-coupling H+ gradient between localized and delocalized modes [Chiang, G., & Dilley, R. A. (1987) Biochemistry 26, 4911-4916]. In this work, one of the phenothiazine Ca2+ antagonists, chlorpromazine, was used as a photoaffinity probe to test for Ca(2+)-dependent binding of the probe to thylakoid proteins. [3H]Chlorpromazine photoaffinity-labels thylakoid polypeptides of Mr 8K and 6K, with generally much less label occurring in other proteins (some experiments showed labeled proteins at Mr 13K-15K). More label was incorporated in circumstances where it is expected that Ca2+ occupies the putative H+ flux gating site, compared to when the gating site is not occupied by calcium. The photoaffinity labeling of the 8-kDa protein was also influenced by the energization level of the thylakoids (less labeling under H+ uptake energization). The 8-kDa protein was identified by partial amino acid sequence data as subunit III of the thylakoid CF0 H+ channel complex. The partial amino acid sequence of the 6-kDa protein (19 residues were determined with some uncertainties) was compared to data in the GCG sequence analysis data base, and no clear identity to a known sequence was revealed. Neither the exact site of putative Ca2+ binding to the CF0 proteolipid nor the site of covalent attachment of the chlorpromazine to the CF0 component has been identified. Evidence for gating of energy-linked H+ fluxes by the hypothesized Ca(2+)-CF0 gating site came from the correlation between Ca(2+)-dependent binding of chlorpromazine to the CF0 8-kDa protein with inhibition of light-driven H+ uptake into the lumen but no inhibition of H+ uptake into sequestered membrane domains. When conditions favored a delocalized delta mu H+ coupling mode, less chlorpromazine was bound to the CF0 structure, and much larger amounts of H+ ions were accumulated in the lumen. The data support the hypothesis that Ca2+ ions act in concert with the 8-kDa CF0 protein (and perhaps another protein, the 6-kDa polypeptide?) in a gating mechanism for regulating the expression of the energy-coupling H+ gradient between localized or delocalized coupling modes.

Evidence that localized energy coupling in thylakoids can continue beyond the energetic threshold onset into steady illumination

Energy transduction from proton gradients into ATP formation in chloroplast thylakoids has been hypothesized to be driven equally efficiently by localized domain delta mu H+ or by a delocalized delta mu H+ (Beard, W. A. and Dilley, R. A. (1988) J. Bioenerg. Biomembr. 20, 129-154). An important question is whether the apparent localized protonmotive force energy coupling mode can be observed only in the dark-to-light transient in the flash excitation protocol commonly used, or whether the localized energy coupling gradient can be maintained under conditions of continuous illumination ATP formation. The assay in the previous work was to use permeable amines, added to thylakoids in the dark, and observe the effect of the amine on the length of the energization lag (number of single-turnover flashes) required to initiate ATP formation in the dark-to-light transition. Amine buffers delayed the ATP onset in high-salt-stored membranes but did not delay the onset with low salt-stored membranes. This work tested whether permeable amines show the different effects in low- or high-salt-stored thylakoids which had attained a steady-state ATP formation rate (in continuous light) for 20-40 s prior to adding the amine. Hydroxyethylmorpholine was the preferred amine for such experiments, a suitable choice inasmuch as it behaves similarly to pyridine in the flash-induced ATP formation onset experiments, but it permeates more rapidly than pyridine and it has a higher pKa, which enhances its buffering effects. With high-salt-stored thylakoids, 0.5 or 1.0 mM hydroxyethylmorpholine added after 40 s of continuous illumination caused a marked, but transient, slowing of the ATP formation rate, but little or no slowing of the rate was observed with low-salt-stored thylakoids (at similar phosphorylation rates for the two thylakoid samples). Those data indicate that in continuous illumination conditions the proton gradient driving ATP formation in thylakoids from the low-salt-stored treatment did not equilibrate with the lumen, but in thylakoids stored in high-salt the delta mu H+ freely equilibrated with the lumen. That suggestion was supported by measurement of the luminal pH under coupling conditions by the [14C]methylamine distribution method using low- or high-salt-stored thylakoids. Further supportive evidence was obtained from measuring the effect of permeable amine buffers on H+ uptake under coupled and basal conditions with both types of thylakoid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Chloroplast thylakoid proteins associated with sequestered proton-buffering domains. Plastocyanin contributes buffering groups to localized proton domains

Thylakoid membrane proteins are organized so as to shield 30-50 nmol H+ (mg Chl)-1 from freely equilibrating with either the external or the lumen aqueous phases. Amine groups provide binding sites for this metastable buffering array and can be quantitatively measured by acetylation using [3H]acetic anhydride. The principle of the assay is that a metastable acidic domain will have relatively less of the reactive neutral form of the amine compared to the amount present after addition of an uncoupler. The extent of the acetylation reaction is strongly influenced by whether the lumen pH comes to complete equilibrium with the external pH prior to adding the acetic anhydride. Determination of the lumen pH by [14C]methylamine distribution after the standard 3 or 5 min equilibration in pH 8.6 buffer indicated that the lumen may have been 0.2 to 0.3 pH more acidic than the external phase. This effect was taken into account by determining the pH dependence, in the pH 8.2-8.6 range, of acetylation of the membrane proteins studied, and the labeling data were conservatively corrected for this possible contribution. Experiments were carried out to identify the thylakoid proteins that contribute such metastable domain amine groups, using the above conservative correction. Surprisingly, plastocyanin contributes buried amine groups, but cytochrome f did not give evidence for such a contribution, if the conservative correction in the labeling was applied. If the correction was too conservative, cytochrome f may contribute amines to the sequestered domains. The new methodology verified earlier results suggesting that three Tris-releasable photosystem II-associated proteins also contribute significantly to the sequestered amine-buffering array.

Effect of high KCl concentrations on membrane-localized metastable proton buffering domains in thylakoids

Recent work showed that chloroplast thylakoid membranes stored in 100 mM KCl-containing media have delocalized energy coupling consistent with a rapid equilibration of the proton gradient between the proton-producing redox steps and the lumen bulk phase (Beard and Dilley 1986). Thylakoids stored in low salt media showed localized energy coupling. A related thylakoid membrane property is the occurrence of sequestered, metastable, acidic domains, associated with pK a ≈7.5 amine groups. For low salt-stored membranes the domain protons appear to be in the direct (localized) diffusion pathway of protons involved in energizing ATP formation, whereas in thylakoids stored in high KCl, domain protons equilibrated with the lumen during the development of the ATP energization threshold (Theg et al. 1988). This work tested whether the 100 mM KCl storage treatment did or did not cause the dissipation of the metastable acidic domain protons in the dark, storage period. By three criteria, it was found that the 100 mM KCl storage treatment had only a slight tendency to dissipate the acidic domain protons into alkaline media under dark conditions. Storage in KCl does not cause the dissipation of the acidic domains in the dark, but allows domain protons to equilibrate with the lumen after the redox system begins turning over, but before the ATP energization threshold ΔpH is reached. These results must be considered in models of how the thylakoid structure can accommodate metastable acidic domains and how such domain protons diffuse to the CF0-CF1 complexes in energy coupling.

ATP formation onset lag and post-illumination phosphorylation initiated with single-turnover flashes. III. Characterization of the ATP formation onset lag and post-illumination phosphorylation for thylakoids exhibiting localized or bulk-phase delocalized energy coupling

When 100 mM KCl replaced sucrose in a chloroplast thylakoid stock suspension buffer, the membranes were converted from a localized proton gradient to a delocalized proton gradient energy coupling mode. The KCl-suspended but not the sucrose-suspended thylakoids showed pyridine-dependent extensions of the ATP onset lag and pyridine effects on post-illumination phosphorylation. The ATP formation assays were performed in a medium of identical composition, using about a 200-fold dilution of the stock thylakoid suspension; hence the different responses were due to the pretreatment, and not the conditions present in the phosphorylation assay. Such permeable buffer effects on ATP formation provide a clear indicator of delocalized proton gradients as the driving force for phosphorylation. The pyridine-dependent increases in the onset lags (and effects on post-illumination phosphorylation) were not due to different ionic conductivities of the membranes (measured by the 515 nm electrochromic absorption change), H+/e- ratios, or electron transport capacities for the two thylakoid preparations. Thylakoid volumes and [14C]pyridine equilibration were similar with both preparations. The KCl-induced shift toward a bulk-phase delocalized energy coupling mode was reversed when the thylakoids were placed back in a low-salt medium. Proton uptake, at the ATP-formation energization threshold flash number, was much larger in the KCl-treated thylakoids and they also had a longer ATP formation onset lag, when no pyridine was present. These results are consistent with the salt treatment exposing additional endogenous buffering groups for interaction with the proton gradient. The concomitant appearance of the pyridine buffer effects implies that the additional endogenous buffering groups must be located on proteins directly exposed in the aqueous lumen phase. Kinetic analysis of the decay of the post-illumination phosphorylation in the two thylakoid preparations showed different apparent first-order rate constants, consistent with there being two different compartments contributing to the proton reservoirs that energize ATP formation. We suggest that the two compartments are a membrane-phase localized compartment operative in the sucrose-treated thylakoids and the bulk lumen phase into which protons readily equilibrate in the KCl-treated thylakoids.

ATP formation onset lag and post-illumination phosphorylation initiated with single-turnover flashes. I. An assay using luciferin-luciferase luminescence

The great sensitivity of the luciferin-luciferase ATP detection system allows direct observation of ATP formation derived from single-turnover flashes in a thylakoid reaction mixture. The method can measure the energization threshold--the number of flashes required for the initiation of ATP formation--as well as detect post-illumination ATP formation after the last flash of a flash sequence. We describe the characteristics of this post-illumination phosphorylation which can be observed after a series of phosphorylating flashes (PIP+) or when the assay for ATP formation was performed in a "traditional" manner where the ADP and Pi were added after the flash-energization period (PIP-). Comparing PIP+ yields and kinetics of the PIP+ decay under various treatments can give information about membrane energization events only if it is clearly established that different PIP+ yields and decay rates are not due to limitations of the luciferase-catalyzed reaction. Experiments showing that the PIP+ ATP yield and kinetics were due to membrane-limited deenergization events (proton efflux) rather than luciferase limitations include: (1) An uncoupler, nigericin, added after the last flash reduced the PIP+ yield, but had no effect on the luciferase reaction. (2) The kinetics of the luminescence after adding standard ATP were much faster than the PIP+ kinetics. (3) Valinomycin and K+ stimulated the PIP+ yield but had no influence on the luciferase reaction. (4) Lowering the pH from 8 to 7 increased both the PIP- (an assay independent of luciferase kinetics) and the PIP+ ATP yields, an expected result owing to the greater endogenous buffering power encountered by the proton gradient when the external pH is 7. In spite of the last-mentioned point, the threshold flash number for ATP formation onset was the same for pH 7 and 8 (valinomycin, K+ present) at slow flash frequencies. This is consistent with a membrane-localized rather than a delocalized gradient. The accompanying reports (W. A. Beard, G. Chiang and R. A. Dilley, and W. A. Beard and R. A. Dilley, J. Bioenerg. Biomembr.) show that different conditions can lead to observing either localized or delocalized proton gradient coupling in the PIP+ event and the ATP onset threshold flash number.