Structure of the gamma subunit of Escherichia coli F1 ATPase probed in trypsin digestion and biotin-avidin binding studies

Molecular mechanisms of rotational catalysis in the F(0)F(1) ATP synthase

Rotation of the F(0)F(1) ATP synthase gamma subunit drives each of the three catalytic sites through their reaction pathways. The enzyme completes three cycles and synthesizes or hydrolyzes three ATP for each 360 degrees rotation of the gamma subunit. Mutagenesis studies have yielded considerable information on the roles of interactions between the rotor gamma subunit and the catalytic beta subunits. Amino acid substitutions, such as replacement of the conserved gammaMet-23 by Lys, cause altered interactions between gamma and beta subunits that have dramatic effects on the transition state of the steady state ATP synthesis and hydrolysis reactions. The mutations also perturb transmission of specific conformational information between subunits which is important for efficient conversion of energy between rotation and catalysis, and render the coupling between catalysis and transport inefficient. Amino acid replacements in the transport domain also affect the steady state catalytic transition state indicating that rotation is involved in coupling to transport.

The stalk region of the Escherichia coli ATP synthase. Tyrosine 205 of the gamma subunit is in the interface between the F1 and F0 parts and can interact with both the epsilon and c oligomer

The soluble portion of the Escherichia coli F1F0 ATP synthase (ECF1) and E. coli F1F0 ATP synthase (ECF1F0) have been isolated from a novel mutant gammaY205C. ECF1 isolated from this mutant had an ATPase activity 3.5-fold higher than that of wild-type enzyme and could be activated further by maleimide modification of the introduced cysteine. This effect was not seen in ECF1F0. The mutation partly disrupts the F1 to F0 interaction, as indicated by a reduced efficiency of proton pumping. ECF1 containing the mutation gammaY205C was bound to the membrane-bound portion of the E. coli F1F0 ATP synthase (ECF0) isolated from mutants cA39C, cQ42C, cP43C, and cD44C to reconstitute hybrid enzymes. Cu2+ treatment or reaction with 5,5'-dithio-bis(2-nitro-benzoic acid) induced disulfide bond formation between the Cys at gamma position 205 and a Cys residue at positions 42, 43, or 44 in the c subunit but not at position 39. Using Cu2+ treatment, this covalent cross-linking was obtained in yields as high as 95% in the hybrid ECF1 gammaY205C/cQ42C and in ECF1F0 isolated from the double mutant of the same composition. The covalent linkage of the gamma to a c subunit had little effect on ATPase activity. However, ATP hydrolysis-linked proton translocation was lost, by modification of both gamma Cys-205 and c Cys-42 by bulky reagents such as 5,5'-dithio-bis (2-nitro-benzoic acid) or benzophenone-4-maleimide. In both ECF1 and ECF1F0 containing a Cys at gamma 205 and a Cys in the epsilon subunit (at position 38 or 43), cross-linking of the gamma to the epsilon subunit was induced in high yield by Cu2+. No cross-linking was observed in hybrid enzymes in which the Cys was at position 10, 65, or 108 of the epsilon subunit. Cross-linking of gamma to epsilon had only a minimal effect on ATP hydrolysis. The reactivity of the Cys at gamma 205 showed a nucleotide dependence of reactivity to maleimides in both ECF1 and ECF1F0, which was lost in ECF1 when the epsilon subunit was removed. Our results show that there is close interaction of the gamma and epsilon subunits for the full-length of the stalk region in ECF1F0. We argue that this interaction controls the coupling between nucleotide binding sites and the proton channel in ECF1F0.

Characterization of the interface between gamma and epsilon subunits of Escherichia coli F1-ATPase

The interaction faces of the gamma and epsilon subunits in the Escherichia coli F1-ATPase have been explored by a combination of cross-linking and chemical modification experiments using several mutant epsilon subunits as follows: epsilonS10C, epsilonH38C, epsilonT43C, epsilonS65C, epsilonS108C, and epsilonM138C, along with a mutant of the gamma subunit, gammaT106C. The replacement of Ser-10 by a Cys or Met-138 by a Cys reduced the inhibition of ECF1 by the epsilon subunit, while the mutation S65C increased this inhibitory effect. Modification of the Cys at position 10 with N-ethylmaleimide or fluoroscein maleimide further reduced the binding affinity of, and the maximal inhibition by, the epsilon subunit. Similar chemical modification of the Cys at position 43 of the epsilon subunit (in the mutant epsilonT43C) and a Cys at position 106 of the gamma subunit (gammaT106C) also affected the inhibition of ECF1 by the epsilon subunit. The various epsilon subunit mutants were reacted with TFPAM3, and the site(s) of cross-linking within the ECF1 complex was determined. Previous studies have shown cross-linking from the Cys at positions 10 and 38 with the gamma subunit and from a Cys at position 108 to an alpha subunit (Aggeler, R., Chicas-Cruz, K., Cai, S. X., Keana, J. F. W., and Capaldi, R. A. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 2956-2961; Aggeler, R., Weinreich, F., and Capaldi, R. A. (1995) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1230, 62-68). Here, cross-linking was found from a Cys at position 43 to the gamma subunit and from the Cys at position 138 to a beta subunit. The site of cross-linking from Cys-10 of epsilon to the gamma subunit was localized by peptide mapping to a region of the gamma subunit between residues 222 and 242. Cross-linking from a Cys at position 38 and at position 43 was with the C-terminal part of the gamma subunit, between residues 202 and 286. ECF1 treated with trypsin at pH 7.0 still binds purified epsilon subunit, while enzyme treated with the protease at pH 8.0 does not. This identifies sites around residue 70 and/or between 202 and 212 of the gamma subunit as involved in epsilon subunit binding.

The gamma subunit in the Escherichia coli ATP synthase complex (ECF1F0) extends through the stalk and contacts the c subunits of the F0 part

A mutant, in which a cysteine has been site-directed into the polar loop region of the c subunit at residue 44, has been studied. Cross-linking of the c subunit to both the gamma and epsilon subunits was observed with cupric 1,10-phenanthrolinate treatment. The linkage between the c and gamma subunits was localized to that part of the gamma subunit between residues 202-286, based on peptide analysis. Reference to the high resolution structure of F1 [Abrahams et al. (1994) Nature 370, 621-628] appears to limit this contact site to the region including residues 202-230. This segment contains 4 tyrosines and 1 tryptophan as possible reactive residues for cross-linking with the c subunit cysteine.

Coupling between catalytic sites and the proton channel in F1F0-type ATPases

F1F0-type ATPases catalyse both ATP-driven proton translocation and proton-gradient-driven ATP synthesis. Recent cryoelectronmicroscopy and low-resolution X-ray studies provide a first glimpse at the structure of this complicated membrane-bound enzyme. The F1 part is roughly globular and linked to the membrane-intercalated F0 part by a narrow stalk domain, which contains the gamma-, delta- and epsilon-subunits along with domains of the b-subunit of the F0 part. Here, we review evidence that conformational and positional changes in the gamma- and epsilon-subunits provide the coupling between catalytic sites and proton translocation within the F1F0 complex.