Synthesis and discharge of the coupling factor.adenosine diphosphate complex in spinach chloroplast lamellae

Photoaffinity labeling with 2-azidoadenosine diphosphate of a tight nucleotide binding site on chloroplast coupling factor 1

An analog of ADP containing an azido group at the C-2 position of the purine ring has been synthesized and used as an affinity probe of the membrane-bound coupling factor 1 of spinach chloroplast thylakoid membranes. The 2-azido-ADP inhibited light-induced dark binding of ADP at the tight nucleotide binding site on the thylakoid membranes. The 2-azido-ADP itself bound tightly to the thylakoid membranes, with 1 muM as the concentration giving 50% maximum binding. Tight binding of the analog required the thylakoid membranes to be energized, and the nucleotide remained bound after repeated washings of the membranes. The maximum extent of tight binding of the analog (1,2-1.3 nmol/mg of chlorophyll) was stoichiometric with the known coupling factor 1 content of thylakoid membranes but somewhat higher than that observed for ADP (0.5-0.9 nmol per mg of chlorophyll). Tight binding of 2-azido-ADP was decreased by the simultaneous addition of ADP. UV photolysis of washed thylakoid membranes containing tightly-bound 2-azido-[beta-(32)P]ADP resulted in the covalent incorporation of label into the membranes. Isolation of the chloroplast coupling factor 1 from these membranes followed by NaDodSO(4) gel electrophoresis demonstrated that the analog was covalently bound to the beta subunit of the coupling factor complex.

Mitochondrial ATPase

Considerable progress has been made in recent years in our understanding of the phosphorylating apparatus in mitochondria, chloroplasts, and bacteria. It has become clear that the structure and the function of the ATP synthesizing apparatus in these widely divergent organisms is similar if not virtually identical. The subunit composition of F1, its molecular architecture, the location and function of substrate binding sites, as well as putative control sites, understanding of the component parts of the oligomycin-sensitive ATPase complex, and the role of these components in the function of the complex all are under active investigation in many laboratories. The developing information and the new insights provided have begun to permit experimental approaches, at the molecular level, to the mode of action of the ATPase in electron-transport-coupled ATP synthesis.

Localization of the tight ADP-binding site on the membrane-bound chloroplast coupling factor one

The photoaffinity analog 2-azido-ADP (2-azidoadenosine 5'-diphosphate) was used as a probe of the spinach chloroplast ATP synthase. The analog acted as a substrate for photophosphorylation. Several observations suggested that 2-azido-ADP and ADP bound to the same class of tight nucleotide binding sites: (a) 2-azido-ADP competitively inhibited ADP tight binding (Ki = 1.4 microM); (b) the concentration giving 50% maximum binding, K0.5 for analog tight binding (1 microM) was similar to that observed for ADP (2 microM); (c) nucleotide tight binding required prior membrane energization and was completely reversed by re-energization; (d) the tight binding of 2-azido-[beta-32P]ADP was completely prevented by ADP; (e) the analog inhibited the light-triggered ATPase activity at micromolar concentrations. Ultraviolet irradiation of washed thylakoid membranes containing tightly bound 2-azido-[beta-32P]ADP resulted in the covalent incorporation of the label into the membranes. Denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the labeled membranes demonstrated that the beta subunit of the coupling factor one complex was the only polypeptide in the thylakoid membranes which was labeled. These results identify the beta subunit of the coupling factor as the location of the tightly bound ADP on the thylakoid membranes.

Evaluation by steady-state enzyme kinetics of the role of tightly bound nucleotides during photophosphorylation

The ATP synthetase of chloroplast membranes binds ADP and ATP with high affinity, and the binding becomes quasi-irreversible under certain conditions. One explanation of the function of these nucleotides is that they are transiently tightly bound during ATP synthesis as part of the catalytic process, and that the release of tightly bound ATP from one catalytic site is promoted when ADP and P(i) bind to a second catalytic site on the enzyme. Alternatively, it is possible that the tightly bound nucleotides are not catalytic, but instead have some regulatory function. We developed steady-state rate equations for both these models for photophosphorylation and tested them with experiments where two alternative substrates, ADP and GDP, were phosphorylated simultaneously. It was impossible to fit the results to the equations that assumed a catalytic role for tightly bound nucleotides, whether we assumed that both ADP and GDP, or only ADP, are phosphorylated by a mechanism involving substrate-induced release of product from another catalytic site. On the other hand, the equations derived from the regulatory-site model that we tested were able to fit all the results relatively well and in an internally consistent manner. We therefore conclude that the tightly bound nucleotides most likely do not derive from catalytic intermediates of ATP synthesis, but that substrate (and possibly also product) probably bind both to catalytic sites and to noncatalytic sites. The latter may modulate the transition of the ATP-synthesizing enzyme complex between its active and inactive states.

Initial events of light-dependent ATP synthesis in spinach subchloroplast particles

The kinetics of 32Pi incorporation into adenine nucleotides by subchloroplast particles in the light is studied with a continuous flow apparatus allowing measurements between 3 and 200 ms. After a short lag time from 1 to 3 ms ATP synthesis proceeds with a constant rate. During the first few milliseconds a faster labelling of ADP is detected. This labelling of ADP reaches a constant level up to 1 molecule ADP labelled per molecule of coupling factor present. The labelling pattern in ATP indicates that the labelled ADP does not equilibrate with free ADP. The addition of 32Pi to a phosphorylating system during the light phase (32Pi pulse) exhibits unchanged kinetic characteristics for labelling of ATP and ADP. These results indicate a phosphorylation of AMP to ADP being an intermediate step in photophosphorylation. In experiments carried out in the dark no label is found in ATP within the time analysed. However the labelling of ADP occurs in the same way as in the light.

Adenylate regulation of photosynthetic electron transport and the coupling sites of phosphorylation in spinach chloroplasts

The regulation by adenylates of activities of various partial electron transport systems in spinach chloroplasts was studied using systems from H2O to 2,5-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone, H2O to 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol, reduced 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol to methyl viologen, and H2O to methyl viologen or ferricyanide. Adenylates regulated all of them. The ratio of the amount of esterified Pi (P) to that of electrons transported (Deltae) in coupling with phosphorylation manifested that there are two phosphorylation sites: one between H2O and 2,5-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone or 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol and another between reduced 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol and methyl viologen, under the proposed stoichiometries, i.e., P/DeltaH+ = 0.5 and DeltaH+/Deltae = 1, where DeltaH+ is the amount of protons pumped by electron transport (= those translocated during phosphorylation), when the basal electron transport (the part not regulated by adenylates) was excluded. The effects of pH, phlorizin, and methylamine on the adenylate regulation of electron transport, and the stimulation profile of electron transport coupled with quasiarsenylation suggested no distinction between the two phosphorylation sites.

Bound ATP in chloroplast membranes: formation and effect of different inhibitors on the labelling

Chloroplast membranes contain firmly bound nucleotides. Their synthesis seems not to be dependent on energy. The amount of labelled firmly bound ATP extracted from membranes after incubation in the light of the presence of 32Pi is only slightly affected by uncouplers such as desapidin and CCCP or energy transfer inhibitors as phlorizin at concentrations where steady state phosphorylation is completely abolished. With Dio-9 or NEM, however, the labelling of firmly bound ATP is lowered to a similar extent as the steady state phosphorylation. These effects can be explained assuming a direct modification of the coupling factor. The results of a two stage incubation experiment using a rapid filtration technique support our earlier hypothesis that the gammaP in the liberated ATP does not origin from the previously built phosphorylated intermediate.

Possible role of firmly bound ATP in the energy transduction of photosynthetic membranes

Chromatophores of Rhodospirillum rubrum and spinach chloroplasts contain firmly bound ATP that is rapidly labeled along with ADP in the presence of 32Pi and endogenous nucleotides. The labeling is not entirely dependent on light. In chloroplasts three types of bound ATP can be defined methodologically by their extraction properties: buffer-soluble; acid-soluble; and SDS-soluble or firmly bound ATP. Extensive washing of the chloroplasts does reduce buffer-soluble but not acid-soluble and firmly bound ATP. Buffer-soluble [32P] ATP is almost exclusively gamma labeled while acid-soluble and firmly bound ATP are labeled in the beta and gamma position equally. CCCP, desaspidin, and phlorizin do not inhibit the labeling of firmly bound ATP, whereas the phosphorylation is almost abolished. However, EDTA and NEM pretreatments of the chloroplasts affect both reactions similarly. The postillumination [32P] ATP synthesis with chromatophores can be inhibited by adding ATP to the incubation mixture after illumination if 32Pi is included only during the dark incubation, but is without effect if 32Pi is present only during illumination. On the other hand, ADP added after illumination inhibits post-illumination [32P] ATP formation in both chromatophores and chloroplasts only if 32Pi is present during illumination. The data can be explained by a coupling factor having two sites, as proposed previously on the basis that firmly bound ATP does not transfer its phosphoryl group but seems to drive a synthesis of acid-soluble ATP which incorporates free phosphate.

Paired moving charges in mitochondrial energy coupling

A model of mitochondrial energy coupling has been proposed based on the principles of paired charge separation and vectorial paired charge flow. The unique role of the electron transfer chain and ionophores in mediating charge separation is emphasized.