Mechanistic investigation on the temperature dependence and inhibition of corn root plasma membrane ATPase

Membrane--vanadium interaction: a toxicokinetic evaluation

Vanadium is an important trace metal widely distributed in environment. Interaction of vanadate with skeletal muscle sarcolemma and basement membrane has been focussed. Scatchard analysis indicated the presence of more than one binding site for vanadate. Vanadate inhibits sarcolemmal and intestinal brush border membrane enzymes in a non-competitive manner. Membrane-vanadium interaction may lead to several structural and functional changes. The binding of vanadium to basement membrane may have some protective role.

Electrostatic analysis of effects of ions on the inhibition of corn root plasma membrane Mg2+-ATPase by the bivalent orthovanadate

The microelectrophoretic mobility of corn root plasma membranes and the inhibition of the Mg+2-ATPase by vanadate were investigated under different ionic conditions. The Mg2+-ATPase was uncompetitively inhibited and a 10-fold variation of the apparent inhibition constant was observed, depending on the addition of K+ and Mg2+. The determination of the zeta potential indicated that a 5-fold decrease of the apparent inhibition constant was due to aspecific electrostatic interactions of the vanadate anion and the negative charge of the membrane. The screening and masking effects of 6 mM free Mg2+ totally abolished electrostatic interactions and allowed the direct determination of the intrinsic vanadate inhibition constant (KIi). On the other hand, a specific, non-electrostatic, effect of K+ caused a 2-fold decrease of the inhibition constant in addition to the electrostatic effect. Finally, the electrostatic analysis indicates that the Mg2+-ATPase is inhibited by the monomeric bivalent anion HVO4(2-).

Temperature dependence and mercury inhibition of tonoplast-type H+-ATPase

The effects of changing temperature on ATP hydrolysis and proton pumping associated with the H+-ATPase of tonoplast membrane vesicles isolated from the maize root microsomal fraction were determined. In the range 5 to 45 degrees C, the maximal initial rate of ATP hydrolysis obeyed a simple Arrhenius model and the activation energy determined was approximately 14 kcal/mol. On the other hand, the initial proton pumping rate showed a bell-shaped temperature dependence, with maximum activity around 25 degrees C. Lineweaver-Burke analysis of the activities showed that the Km of ATP hydrolysis, unlike that of proton pumping, was relatively insensitive to temperature changes. Detailed kinetic analysis of the proton pumping process showed that the increase in membrane leakage to protons during the pumping stage constituted a major reason for the decreased transport. Nitrate-sensitive ATPase activities of the tonoplast vesicles were found to be inhibited by the presence of micromolar concentrations of Hg2+. The proton pumping process was more sensitive to the presence of Hg2+. Double-reciprocal analysis of kinetic data indicated that Hg2+ was a noncompetitive inhibitor of proton pumping but was an uncompetitive inhibitor of ATP hydrolysis. Further kinetic analysis of Hg2+ effects revealed that the lower proton transport did not result from enhanced membrane leakage but rather from reduced coupling between H+ pumping and ATP hydrolysis.

Proton pumping kinetics and origin of nitrate inhibition of tonoplast-type H+-ATPase

A tonoplast-type vesicle preparation, substantially free from other subcellular membranes, was obtained from corn roots by equilibrium sucrose density gradient centrifugation. At pH 6.5 and in the presence of chloride ions, the tonoplast-type ATPase activity as measured by Pi release, was inhibited by nitrate ions. The ATPase activity was insensitive to molybdate and vanadate, indicating a minimum nonspecific phosphatase and plasma membrane contamination. The vesicles exhibited an ATP hydrolysis-supported proton uptake which was measured by the absorption change of acridine orange. The ATP hydrolysis supported uptake and the subsequent perturbant-induced release of protons (decay) was described by a kinetic model which was previously developed to evaluate the coupling between proton pumping and the primary energy yielding process for other biomembranes. The proton pumping activity was more sensitive to nitrate ions then was ATP hydrolysis. The differential effect and the kinetic analysis of nitrate inhibition led us to suggest that (i) the coupling between Pi release and proton pumping was indirect in nature and (ii) the primary inhibitory effect of nitrate ion was originated from an interaction with a protogenic protein domain which is functionally linked to the ATPase in the tonoplast-type membrane.