Diphosphatidylglycerol-induced changes in the organization of mitochondrial ATPase

On the function of the natural ATPase inhibitor protein in intact mitochondria

The recently described methodology to extract the mitochondrial ATPase along with other mitochondrial proteins into organic solvents, and their subsequent incorporation into liposomes [Eur. J. Biochem. (1982) 121, 427-433] has been employed to estimate the number of ATPases that contain the natural ATPase inhibitor protein in its inhibitory site in intact mitochondria incubated in various metabolic states. It was found that in the presence of electrochemical gradients about 50% of the ATPases are without inhibitor protein in its inhibitory site (active ATPases). In the transition from state 4 to state 3 the percentage of active ATPases diminishes from about 50% to approximately 20%. This indicates that during steady-state phosphorylation only a limited number of ATPases are in the active catalytic state, and that not only during active hydrolysis does the inhibitor protein interact with its inhibiting site; rather the inhibitor seems to interact with an intermediate state of the enzyme that appears either during the synthetic or hydrolytic reactions. In addition it was found that ATP, with or without uncoupler, induces the interaction of the inhibitor protein in more than 80% the ATPases through an oligomycin-sensitive process. Thus, notwithstanding other factors the interaction may account for the low hydrolytic activity of mitochondria.

Extraction of mitochondrial protein-lipid complexes into organic solvents: an approach to study the interaction between the ATPase and the mitochondrial ATPase-inhibitor protein

Protein-lipid complexes were transferred directly from mitochondria and submitochondrial particles into hexane and ether. The protein-lipid residue left after solvent removal from these extracts was used to form liposomes which display low-temperature-resistant ATPase activity. Centrifugation experiments indicate that the ATPase activity is associated to the vesicles. Most of the F1-ATPases appear to be accessible to the external water phase of the liposomes. The ATPase activity of these particles was insensitive to dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and oligomycin. Incubation of these vesicles at room temperature activated (4--10-fold) the ATPase through a process that is partially sensitive to phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. The results with purified ATPase-inhibitor protein and (F1--ATPase)-inhibitor complex indicate that the activation process in the liposomes is due to the abolition of the inhibitory action of the inhibitor protein bound to a large fraction of the extracted ATPases. Liposomes prepared from hexane extracts obtained from submitochondrial particles having different levels of ATPase activity displayed an activation ratio which correlated with the number of ATPases that are inhibited by the inhibitor protein in the submitochondrial particles. The extraction of mitochondrial ATPase and its incorporation into liposomes followed by activity measurements may be used to judge the number of ATPases that in a given preparation contain the inhibitor protein in its inhibiting site.

Regulation of phospholipid-ATPase complex interaction by the adenine nucleotide carrier

(1) The effect of phospholipids on a preparation containing the ATPase complex and the adenine nucleotide carrier is studied in the presence of ligands known to affect the conformation of these components of the mitochondrial inner membrane. (2) When ATPase activity is abolished by phospholipid depletion, the reactivation induced by phosphatidylcholine is prevented by the simultaneous addition of ATP. ADP partially reproduces the ATP effect. AMP, GTP, UTP, and Pi are ineffective. (3) The influence of ATP is associated with reduced phospholipid binding to the membrane fragments and is reversible. The ATP effect on reconstitution is not manifest when phosphatidylcholine is added together with negatively charged phospholipids. (4) Carboxyatractyloside does not modify the phospholipid-ATPase complex interaction but bongkrekic acid is as effective as ATP. In the presence of ADP, the influence of bongkrekic acid is considerably increased. (5) It is concluded that the binding of ATP to the adenine nucleotide carrier enables the complex to select between the charged and uncharged phospholipids. As a result of the carrier conformational change, the ATPase complex is induced to prefer a negatively charged phospholipid environment.

MgATP-induced inhibition of the adenosine triphosphatase activity of submitochondrial particles

1. The ATP-hydrolytic activity of ox heart submitochondrial particles can be increased from 2-3 mumol/min per mg of protein to 10-12 mumol/min per mg of protein by incubation in media containing 50 mM-Na2B4O7. This process appears to be due to the partial release of inhibitor protein from the particles. 2. The ATPase activity of submitochondrial particles can be inhibited by incubation with the substrate, MgATP. This inhibition is not due to the accumulation of the hydrolysis products, MgADP and Pi, but could involve the process of ATP hydrolysis. 3. The mechanism of MgATP-induced inhibition of ATPase activity is proposed to involve a conformational change in one of the intermediate enzyme species of the ATP-hydrolytic sequence. 4. MgATP inhibits the ATPase activity of control submitochondrial particles at a higher rate and to a greater extent than it does that of inhibitor-protein-depleted submitochondrial particles, suggesting that the conformational change involves the endogenous inhibitor protein.

Phospholipid-dependent assembly of mitochondrial ATPase complex

1. Phosphatidylcholines of different acyl-chain composition and a preparation of ATPase complex depleted of phospholipids have been employed in order to evaluate the contribution of lipid bilayer to the assembly of this multi-subunit component of mitochondrial membrane. 2. At the minimal requirement for bilayer assembly (dinonanoylphosphatidylcholine, mixtures of lysophosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylcholine), fragments with oligomycin-insensitive ATPase activity are reconstituted. Conformational changes with dislocation of ATPase complex subunits may explain these results. 3. At increased strength of acyl-chain interaction (dilauroylphosphatidylcholine and higher homologues), the damage to the ATPase complex is prevented but this is not sufficient to achieve functional restoration. Bilayers with a tendency to coalesce and fuse aggregate in large amounts with the complex and yield low ATPase reactivation. Bilayers of high stability yield complexes with physiological content of phospholipids and efficient ATPase activity. Transition between these two possibilities is found at sixteen carbon acyl-chains. Only at this chain length does the cholate dialysis procedure of reconstitution become feasible. 4. It is concluded that a minimum of 16 carbon atoms in each chain are required to organize a bilayer structurable to maintain the ATPase complex conformation and to sustain the transmembrane position of the whole assembly.

Optimization of the purification of mitochondrial F1-adenosine triphosphatase

A simple technique of purification of the soluble pig heart mitochondrial F1-ATPase is described. It consists of removal of extrinsic proteins from mitochondrial membranes before extraction with chloroform and ammonium sulfate fractionation. A high degree of purity, an excellent stability and a good yield are attained after gel filtration through an Ultrogel ACA 34 column equilibrated in the presence of 50% glycerol. The tested properties of the F1-ATPase prepared by this method are similar to those of the same enzyme extracted by sonication. The enzyme is virtually devoid of tightly bound nucleotides. In addition, some characteristics of the behaviour of the beta subunit are shown.

Effect of organic solvents on the beef heart mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase

The effect of organic solvents on the beef heart mitochondrial ATP-base-catalyzed ATP and ITP hydrolysis was examined. It was observed that numerous organic solvents stimulated ATP hydrolysis while ITP hydrolysis was inhibited. Methanol at 20% (v/v) was found to stimulate ATP hydrolysis by over 300%, while at the same methanol concentration ITP hydrolysis was inhibited approximately 50%. In the presence of 20% methanol, ATP hydrolysis exhibited linear plots of 1/[ATP] vs. 1/v, while in the absence of methanol negative cooperativity was observed. These data can be interpreted to imply that the catalytic and regulatory sites of the mitochondrial ATPase are being dissociated 20% methanol. The effect of methanol on the hydrolysis of ATP and ITP was examined as a function of pH. It was found that, at high pH in totally aqueous solutions, the hydrolysis of ATP and ITP was inhibited, while the presence of 20% methanol either caused the hydrolytic rate to peak and remain constant above pH 8 (with ATP as substrate) or caused the rate of hydrolysis to continue to increase above pH 8 (when ITP was the substrate). These data are interpreted to indicate that an acidic group in the active site may be ionizing, limiting the ATPase-catalyzed hydrolytic rate, and, with 20% methanol, this ionization was inhibited.

F1-ATPase from different submitochondrial particles

1. F1-ATPase has been extracted by the diphosphatidylglycerol procedure from mitochondrial ATPase complexes that differ in ATPase activity, cold stability, ATPase inhibitor and magnesium content. 2. The ATPase activity of the isolated enzymes was dependent upon the activity of the original particles. In this respect, F1-ATPase extracted from submitochondrial particles prepared in ammonia (pH 9.2) and filtered through Sephadex G-50 was comparable to the enzyme purified by conventional procedures (Horstman, L.L. and Racker, E. (1970) J. Biol. Chem. 245, 1336--1344), whereas F1-ATPase extracted from submitochondrial particles prepared in the presence of magnesium and ATP at neutral pH was similar to factor A (Andreoli, T.E., Lam, K.W. and Sanadi, D.R. (1965) J. Biol. Chem. 240, 2644--2653). 3. No systematic relationship has been found in these F1-ATPase preparations between their ATPase inhibitor content and ATPase activity. Rather, a relationship has been observed between this activity and the efficiency of the ATPase inhibitor-F1-ATPase association within the membrane. 4. It is concluded that the ATPase activity of isolated F1-ATPase reflects the properties of original ATPase complex provided a rapid and not denaturing procedure of isolation is employed.

Studies on the ATPase complex from beef-heart mitochondria. I. Isolation and characterization of an oligomycin-sensitive and an olgiomycin-insensitive ATPase complex from beef-heart mitochondria

1. A new method for the isolation of the oliogomycin-sensitive ATPase from beef-heart mitochondria is described. 2. A Triton-soluble ATPase complex was isolated as a by-product of the standard procedure, or as the main product when the submitochondrial particles were pretreated with 1% Triton. The ATPase activity of this complex is sensitive neither to oligomycin nor to dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. 3. The ATPase activity of the oligomycin-sensitive ATPase complex is nearly completely dependent on added phospholipids. The highest activation was found with asolectin. 4. The oligomycin-sensitive complex can be integrated into phospholipid vesicles resulting in an ATP- and Mg2+-dependent energization of the vesicles as monitored with the fluorescent dye 9-amino-6-chloro-2-methoxyacridine. 5. Aurovertin-binding studies based on fluorescence measurement reveal the presence of 1.5 mumol aurovertin-binding sites per g protein for the oligomycin-sensitive complex and about 2.2 mumol for the oligomycin-insensitive complex. 6. The preparation of the oligomycin-sensitive complex contains at least 6--7 polypeptides in addition to those derived from F1. One of these polypeptides, with an apparent molecular weight of 31 000, is virtually absent from the oligomycin-insensitive complex. 7. Some of these polypeptides have been identified and isolated.

Cold lability of membrane-bound F1-ATPase

1. Preincubation of MgATP submitochondrial particles with EDTA or Tris.HCl liberated a measurable amount of ATPase inhibitor that could be rapidly purified using only trichloroacetic acid precipitation and heat treatment. 2. In spite of the emergence of high ATPase activity, a considerable amount of ATPase inhibitor was left in the particles. Comparative analysis of other submitochondrial preparations indicated that only AS-particles were effectively depleted. 3. The high ATPase activity of inhibitor-deficient particles, was labile at low temperature provided that the exposure to cold was done in the presence of MgATP. Other nucleotides could not substitute for ATP. Glycerol inhibited and salts enhanced the cold inactivation of membrane-bound F1-ATPase. Isolation of F1-ATPase from cold-inactivated particles yielded a soluble preparation of correspondingly lower activity. 4. It is concluded that together with the increase of ATPase activity, the ATP-dependent cold lability of membrane-bound F1-ATPase and the dislocation of ATPase inhibitor at non operative sites reveal the extent of ATPase complex disorganization.

The role of phospholipid acyl chains in the activation of mitochondrial ATPase complex

1. The role of length and unsaturation of phospholipid acyl chains in the activation of ATPase complex was studied with synthetic phosphatidylcholines and a phospholipid-dependent preparation obtained after cholate-extraction of submitochondrial particles (Kagawa, Y. and Racker, E. (1966) J. Biol. Chem. 241, 2467--2474). 2. Micelle-forming, short-chain phosphatidylcholines produced activation only at critical micellar concentration. The reactivated complex was cold-stable but the oligomycin sensitivity was low. 3. Bilayer-forming saturated phosphatidylcholines produced activation which was maximal at 9 carbon atoms in each chain but decreased sharply as the chain-length was increased and essentially disappeared at 14 carbon atoms. By contrast the oligomycin-sensitivity increased with the increase in chain length. 4. Activation of ATPase complex reappeared when bilayers were formed with long-chain unsaturated phosphatidylcholines. The activity was oligomycin sensitive. Significant inhibition of activity was observed also after incorporation of cholesterol into the bilayers. 5. By contrast the activation induced by negatively charged liposomes of diacylphosphatidylglycerol was independent on acyl-chain composition and occurred at very low amounts of phospholipid. 6. The discontinuity in the Arrhenius plot of activity of the ATPase complex reactivated with saturated phospholipids was found at temperatures close to the gel-to-liquid crystalline transition of the lipid showing that the activity of ATPase complex was sensitive to the physical state of membrane phospholipids. 7. It is concluded that (a) reactivation of ATPase complex by isoelectric phospholipids is an interfacial activation, the minimum requirement for the lipid effect being micelle formation. (b) In order to gain the properties of the native complex a stable lamellar phase is needed. Both activity and oligomycin sensitivity are regulated by the chain length and degree of unsaturation of phospholipid acyl chains.