Purification and proteolysis of vesicles containing inside-out and right-side-out oriented reconstituted (Na+, K+)-ATPase

Reconstitution of the Neurospora crassa plasma membrane H(+)-adenosine triphosphatase

The purified H(+)-ATPase of the Neurospora crassa plasma membrane has been reconstituted by a gel filtration method into lipidic vesicles using sodium deoxycholate as the detergent. Reconstitution was performed for lipid/ATPase ratios ranging from 1000:1 to 5:1 (w/w). Whatever the lipid/ATPase ratio, the ATPase molecules completely associate with the lipid vesicles. The ATPase specific activity is identical for all proteoliposomes regardless of the lipid/ATPase ratio, but the H+ transport decreases at high protein/lipid ratios, suggesting that the proteoliposomes are more leaky to H+ as the amount of protein inserted into the lipidic membrane increases. Analysis of the fragments generated by trypsin proteolysis in the presence and in the absence of MgATP+ vanadate indicate that most of the reconstituted ATPase molecules are able to assume the transition state of the enzyme dephosphorylation reaction, and are therefore functional. The orientation (inside-out or rightside-out) of the ATPase molecules in the vesicles is independent of the lipid/ATPase ratio chosen for the reconstitution. For all the lipid/ATPase ratios tested, most of the ATPase molecules (> 99%) expose their cytoplasmic side to the outside of the reconstituted proteoliposomes. The size of the vesicles increases parallel to the ATPase amount. Although the H+ leakiness of our preparation at low lipid/protein ratios prevents proton pumping measurements, the reconstitution procedure described here has the main advantage on other procedures to allow the obtention of vesicles at high protein-to-lipid ratios, facilitating further structural characterization of the ATPase by biochemical and biophysical techniques. Therefore, the procedure described here could be of general interest in the field of membrane protein study.

Reconstitution, identification, and purification of the Torpedo californica electroplax chloride channel complex

A voltage-gated chloride channel was identified in the electric organ of the marine ray Torpedo californica by White and Miller (J. Biol. Chem. 254, 10161-10166 (1979)). The experiments reported here concern the purification and identification of this channel which was accomplished by solubilization of electric organ plasma membranes and reconstitution of the channel into vesicles made of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, and cholesterol. Channel activity was measured in these vesicles by assaying 36Cl- uptake against an outwardly directed chloride chemical gradient as described by Garty et al. (J. Biol. Chem. 258, 13094-13099 (1983)). Maximal uptake occurred by 15 s. Addition of valinomycin after 10 min released intravesicular 36Cl- suggesting that chloride is moving through a channel. Channel activity was inhibited by DIDS (K0.5 of 56 mM) and NBD chloride (K0.5 of 176 mM). In a 40 lipid/1 protein (w/w) reconstitution, approx. 30% of the vesicles contained a functional chloride channel, based upon uptake done in the presence of chlorotriphenyltin (an anion ionophore), indicating that the Torpedo electric organ is an enriched source as shown by White and Miller (Biophys. J. 35, 455-462 (1981)). The chloride channel was purified approx. 40-fold by sedimentation velocity. In this purified preparation, four polypeptides (210, 95, 55, and 40 kDa) were visible by silver-staining after nonreducing SDS-PAGE. Of the four polypeptides, the largest (210 kDa) is not sufficient for Cl- channel activity by itself, but it is labeled by DIDS, an inhibitor of channel activity. Channel activity was approx. 20-fold greater in material that bound to concanavalin A compared to the concanavalin A flow-through; all four polypeptides were present in the bound materia. It is possible that some of these polypeptides are subunits of the chloride channel.

Reconstitution of a T cell receptor-stimulated plasma membrane calcium transporter: lack of dependence on inositol phosphates

The activation of T lymphocytes, like many cells, requires a rapid rise in intracellular Ca2+ secondary to both an influx and a release from intracellular stores. The latter is activated by inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3]. It is controversial if inositol phosphates can also stimulate a plasma membrane Ca2+ channel in T cells. We have studied the human T cell line HPB-ALL which, upon stimulation of its antigen receptor, does not generate detectable levels of Ins(1,4,5)P3 or internal Ca2+ release, but does have a Ca2+ influx. We have reconstituted a receptor-activated Ca2+ transporter from plasma membranes from these cells which has properties similar to the transporter observed in vivo and does not require inositol phosphates for activation. These data show that mitogens may activate more than one type of ligand-gated Ca2+ transport mechanism in T lymphocytes.

Characterization of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase-liposomes. III. Controlled activation and inhibition of symmetric pumps by timed asymmetric ATP, RbCl, and cardiac glycoside addition

Inside-out as well as right-side-out oriented (Na+ + K+)-ATPase molecules reconstituted in liposomes are activated successively by timed asymmetric addition of ATP to the internal and external liposome compartment; this presents the first functional confirmation of the symmetric pump-orientation in cholate-dialysed preparations revealed previously by the equal distribution of intramembrane particles on the concave and convex surface of freeze-fractured (Na+ + K+)-ATPase-liposomes. The initial transport rates of the symmetrically oriented pump populations are regulated by varying the bilateral K or Rb ion concentrations; ATP, ouabain, digoxin or vanadate are used to activate or block selectively the right-side-out, inside-out or both (Na+ + K+)-ATPase populations. Finally, these liposomes of the second generation present a new tool to evaluate the membrane-permeability as well as the effects of receptor-ligands or other probes in a single preparation.

Current concepts in membrane protein reconstitution

The reconstitution of integral proteins into artificial lipid vesicles is largely prompted by the complexity of most biological membranes and the inherent difficulty of studying individual components in situ. Ideally, therefore, the reconstituted system should consist of a single protein in a lipid matrix which mimics the native membrane in all but its diversity. While such an approach allows individual components of a complex system to be studied in isolation it should also be sufficiently versatile to permit the generation of increasingly sophisticated multicomponent models. From the considerable number of reconstitution techniques which have been developed I have tried in this review to identify those characteristics of a particular system which maximise both the information it can provide and its versatility.

Papain fragmentation of the (Na+,K+)-ATPase beta subunit reveals multiple membrane-bound domains

Purified dog kidney (Na+,K+)-ATPase was reacted with tritiated sodium borohydride after treatment with neuraminidase and galactose oxidase. This procedure did not affect the ATPase activity of the enzyme, and all of the covalently bound radioactivity was found in the beta subunit (Mr 54 000). Papain digestion of the tritiated enzyme produced two labeled fragments of Mr 40 000 and 16 000. Further proteolysis generated an Mr 31 000 peptide from the larger fragment. Unlike the tryptic and chymotryptic sites of the alpha subunit, the sites of papain hydrolysis were insensitive to conformations of the (Na+,K+)-ATPase. Determination of the NH2-terminal sequences was used to arrange the fragments within the linear map of the beta chain. Finally, none of the labeled peptides was released from the membrane under nondenaturing conditions. These results are consistent with a model of the beta subunit containing a 40 000-dalton NH2-terminal piece and a 16 000-dalton COOH-terminal piece. Both fragments have extracellularly exposed carbohydrate and at least one membrane-bound domain.