Binding of long-chain alkyl derivatives to lipid bilayers and to (Ca2+-Mg2+)-ATPase.

Binding constants for myristoleic, palmitoleic, palmitic, oleic, and eicosanoic acids and oleyland stearylamine to lipid bilayers have been determined by using microelectrophoresis. Quenching of the fluorescence of the hydrophobic tryptophan analogue N-palmitoyl-L-tryptophan n-hexyl ester incorporated into lipid bilayers by oleic acid and oleylamine and their brominated derivatives is interpreted in terms of unlimited binding to the bilayers. The tryptophan fluorescence of the (Ca2+-Mg2+)-ATPase purified from sarcoplasmic reticulum is quenched when reconstituted into bilayers of 1,2-bis(9,10-dibromostearoyl)-phosphatidylcholine (BRPC). Addition of fatty acids, oleylamine, oleyl alcohol, and methyl oleate to the ATPase reconstituted with BRPC reduces the quenching caused by BRPC, indicating binding of these molecules at the lipid-protein interface (annular sites). The charged molecules bind more strongly at the annular sites than do the uncharged molecules. Additional quenching of BRPC-ATPase by brominated derivatives of these molecules indicates binding at sites distinct from the lipid-protein interface, with binding constants similar to those for binding at annular sites, except for oleylamine. Quenching of tryptophan fluorescence of the ATPase by fatty acids and oleylamine suggests that ca. 50% of the tryptophan residues of the ATPase are located close to the lipid-water interface of the membrane.

Effects of lipids and long-chain alkyl derivatives on the activity of (Ca2+-Mg2+)-ATPase.

The ATPase activity of the (Ca2+-Mg2+)-ATPase reconstituted into bilayers of phosphatidylcholines depends on the fatty acyl chain length of the phospholipids. It is shown that the fluorescence response to Ca2+ of the ATPase modified with fluorescein isothiocyanate is also dependent on phospholipid structure and is interpreted in terms of a change in the equilibrium between two forms of the ATPase, E1 and E2. A kinetic scheme for the ATPase is presented in which ATPase activity is markedly dependent on the rate of the transition between two phosphorylated forms of the ATPase, E1'PCa2 and E2'PCa2, and it is postulated that changing the phospholipid structure changes this rate. The rate of dephosphorylation of the ATPase and the ATP dependence of the E1'PCa2-E2'PCa2 transition are also lipid dependent. Binding of oleyl alcohol causes large, lipid-dependent changes in ATPase activity, and these are interpreted in terms of changes in the rates of these same steps. Oleylamine, which has been shown to bind more strongly at annular sites than at nonannular sites, inhibits ATPase activity irrespective of lipid structure, whereas fatty acids, which bind less strongly at annular sites, only inhibit at high concentrations. Methyl oleate, which binds more strongly at nonannular sites than at annular sites, causes marked stimulation for the ATPase reconstituted with short-chain lipids.

Effects of lipid fatty acyl chain structure on the activity of the (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase.

The (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase purified from rabbit muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum has been reconstituted into a series of phosphatidylcholines in the liquid crystalline phase. For phosphatidylcholines containing monounsaturated fatty acyl chains, optimal activity is observed for a chain length of C18, with longer or shorter chains supporting lower activities. Phospholipids with methyl-branched chain saturated fatty acids support somewhat lower activities than the corresponding phospholipids with mono-unsaturated fatty acids. Mixed chain phospholipids support ATPase activities comparable to those shown by an unmixed chain phospholipid with the same average chain length. However, the response of the ATPase reconstituted with mixed chain phospholipids to the addition of oleyl alcohol is dominated by the longest fatty acyl chain. Based on their ability to displace brominated phospholipids, relative binding constants to the ATPase of a series of phosphatidylcholines have been determined. Binding to the ATPase is virtually unaffected by fatty acyl chain length or the presence of methyl branches.

A model for the phosphorylation of the Ca2+ + Mg2+-activated ATPase by phosphate.

We have shown that changes in fluorescence intensity for the Ca2+ + Mg2+-activated ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum labelled with fluorescein isothiocyanate following the addition of Ca2+ can give the ratio of the two conformations (E1 and E2) of the ATPase. We show that the fluorescence response to Ca2+ is unaffected by Mg2+, phosphate or K+, implying that these ions bind equally well to the E1 and E2 conformations. A model is presented for phosphorylation of the ATPase by phosphate as a function of pH, Mg2+, K+ and Ca2+.

A kinetic model for the Ca2+ + Mg2+-activated ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum.

The Ca2+ + Mg2+-activated ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum exhibits complex kinetics of activation with respect to ATP. ATPase activity is pH-dependent, with similar pH-activity profiles at high and low concentrations of ATP. Low concentrations of Ca2+ in the micromolar range activate the ATPase, whereas activity is inhibited by Ca2+ at millimolar concentrations. The pH-dependence of this Ca2+ inhibition and the effect of the detergent C12E8 (dodecyl octaethylene glycol monoether) on Ca2+ inhibition are similar to those observed on activation by low concentrations of Ca2+. On the basis of these and other studies we present a kinetic model for the ATPase. The ATPase is postulated to exist in one of two conformations: a conformation (E1) of high affinity for Ca2+ and MgATP and a conformation (E2) of low affinity for Ca2+ and MgATP. Ca2+ binding to E2 and to the phosphorylated form E2P are equal. Proton binding at the Ca2+-binding sites in the E1 and E2 conformations explains the pH-dependence of Ca2+ effects. Binding of MgATP to the phosphorylated intermediate E1'PCa2 and to E2 modulate the rates of the transport step E1'PCa-E2'PCa2 and the return of the empty Ca2+ sites to the outside surface of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, as well as the rate of dephosphorylation of E2P. Only a single binding site for MgATP is postulated.

Conformational transitions in the Ca2+ + Mg2+-activated ATPase and the binding of Ca2+ ions.

We have studied the fluorescence of the Ca2+ + Mg2+-activated ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum labelled with fluorescein isothiocyanate. The change in intensity of fluorescein fluorescence caused by addition of Ca2+ to the labelled ATPase can be interpreted in terms of a two-conformation model for the ATPase, one conformation (E1) having a high affinity for Ca2+, the other (E2) a low affinity. Effects of Ca2+ as a function of pH allow an estimate of the effect of pH on the E1/E2 ratio, consistent with kinetic studies. A model is presented for binding of Ca2+ to the ATPase as a function of pH that is consistent both with the data on the E1/E2 equilibrium and with literature data on Ca2+ binding.

Interactions of hexachlorocyclohexanes with the (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase from sarcoplasmic reticulum.

Hexachlorocyclohexanes have been shown to inhibit the (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase of muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum reconstituted into bilayers of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine. However, for the ATPase reconstituted into bilayers of dimyristoleoylphosphatidylcholine, a pattern of activation at low concentration followed by inhibition at higher concentration is seen for hexachlorocyclohexanes and alkanes such as decane and hexadecane. The ATPase in sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles is also inhibited by the hexachlorocyclohexanes. The effects of hexachlorocyclohexanes on activity are largely independent of concentrations of Ca2+ and ATP. Inhibition is more marked at lower temperatures. The hexachlorocyclohexanes quench the tryptophan fluorescence of the ATPase, and the quenching can be used to obtain partition coefficients into the membrane system. As for simple lipid bilayers, partition exhibits a negative temperature coefficient. Binding is related to effects on ATPase activity.

Cytochrome c-mediated electron transfer between ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome c oxidase. Kinetic evidence for a mobile cytochrome c pool.

Ubiquinol oxidase has been reconstituted from ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (Complex III), cytochrome c and cytochrome c oxidase (Complex IV). The steady-state level of reduction of cytochrome c by ubiquinol-2 varies with the molar ratios of the complexes and with the presence of antimycin in a way that can be quantitatively accounted for by a model in which cytochrome c acts as a freely diffusible pool on the membrane. This model was based on that of Kröger & Klingenberg [(1973) Eur. J. Biochem. 34, 358-368] for ubiquinone-pool behaviour. Further confirmation of the pool model was provided by analysis of ubiquinol oxidase activity as a function of the molar ratio of the complexes and prediction of the degree of inhibition by antimycin.

Cytochrome c mediates electron transfer between ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase and cytochrome c oxidase by free diffusion along the surface of the membrane.

Ubiquinol oxidase can be reconstituted from ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (Complex III) and cytochrome c oxidase (Complex IV) whose endogenous phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine have been replaced by dimyristoylglycerophosphocholine. Phase transition of the lipid has no effect on Complex III and Complex IV activities assayed separately, but ubiquinol oxidase activity rapidly decreases as the temperature is lowered through the phase transition. A spin-labelled yeast cytochrome c derivative has been synthesized. Binding of the cytochrome c to liposomes demonstrates that only cardiolipin is involved under the conditions used for the ubiquinol oxidase experiments. In liposomes consisting of cardiolipin and dimyristoylglycerophosphocholine, e.s.r. (electron-spin-resonance) measurements show that rotational diffusion of cytochrome c is slowed in the gel phase of the latter lipid. We propose that the cytochrome c pool is bound to cardiolipin molecules, whose lateral and rotational diffusion in the bilayer is adequate to account for electron-transport rates.