Binding of nucleotides to purified coupling factor-latent ATPase from Mycobacterium phlei.

Binding studies of various nucleotides to the purified coupling factor-latent ATPase from Mycobacterium phlei have been carried out using gel filtration, equilibrium dialysis, and ultrafiltration methods. The purified latent ATPase binds 3 mol of ADP per mol of the enzyme with an apparent dissociation constant of 68 muM. Binding of nucleotides occurred in the decreasing order: ADP, epsilon-ATP, epsilon-ADP, UDP, adenyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate (AMP-P(NH)P), IDP, and adenosine 5'-(alpha,beta-methylene)diphosphate (AdoP(CH2)P). AMP-P(NH)P inhibits both soluble (Ki = 77 muM) and membrane-bound latent ATPase activity. However, AMP-P(NH)P does not affect oxidative phosphorylation in membrane vesicles of M. phlei. AMP-P(NH)P exhibits one binding site per molecule of the enzyme with a dissociation constant of 71 muM. After trypsin treatment of the enzyme, the binding of ADP decreases 35%, while AMP-P(NH)P binding remains unchanged. Moreover, AMP-P(NH)P binding was not displaced by ADP. Studies with sulfhydryl agents showed that, in contrast to AMP-P(NH)P, binding of at least 1 mol of ADP requires the participation of sulfhydryl groups. The results indicate that AMP-P(NH)P and ADP do not share a common binding site and that the latent ATPase enzyme has separate sites for ATP hydrolysis and ATP synthesis.

Purification and properties of membrane-bound coupling factor-latent ATPase from Mycobacterium phlei.

The membrane bound coupling factor-latent ATPase was solubilized from the membrane vesicles of Mycobacterium phlei by using 0.25 M sucrose or low ionic strength buffer. Purification of the solubilized enzyme by use of Sepharose-ADP conjugate gel yielded a homogenous preparation of latent ATPase which was purified about 216-fold in a single step with an 84% yield. The enzyme exhibits a specific activity of 39 mumoles of ATP hydrolyzed per min per mg protein. The purified enzyme exhibits coupling factor activity. Electrophoresis in two dissociating solvent systems indicates that the enzyme contains at least three major polypeptides of molecular weights 56,000, 51,000, and 46,000 daltons, and two minor polypeptides of 30,000 and 17,000 daltons. Equilibrium binding studies of ADP with purified coupling factor-latent ATPase reveal the presence of two nucleotide binding sites per molecule with an apparent Ka of 8.1 X 10(-5) M. By use of affinity chromatography, another latent ATPase has been isolated from the solubilized enzyme, which does not exhibit coupling factor activity.