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J E Walker

Publications and source records attributed to J E Walker.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Bovine F1-ATPase covalently inhibited with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan: the structure provides further support for a rotary catalytic mechanism.

BACKGROUND: F1-ATPase is the globular domain of F1F0-ATP synthase that catalyses the hydrolysis of ATP to ADP and phosphate. The crystal structure of bovine F1-ATPase has been determined previously to 2.8 A resolution. The enzyme comprises five different subunits in the stoichiometry alpha 3 beta 3 gamma delta epsilon; the three catalytic beta subunits alternate with the three alpha subunits around the centrally located single gamma subunit. To understand more about the catalytic mechanisms, F1-ATPase was inhibited by reaction with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan (NBD-Cl) and the structure of the inhibited complex (F1-NBD) determined by X-ray crystallography. RESULTS: In the structure the three beta subunits adopt a different conformation with different nucleotide occupancy. NBD-Cl reacts with the phenolic oxygen of Tyr311 of the beta E subunit, which contains no bound nucleotide. The two other catalytic subunits beta TP and beta DP contain bound adenylyl-imidodiphosphate (AMP-PNP) and ADP, respectively. The binding site of the NBD moiety does not overlap with the regions of beta E that form the nucleotide-binding pocket in subunits beta TP and beta DP nor does it occlude the nucleotide-binding site. Catalysis appears to be inhibited because neither beta TP nor beta DP can accommodate a Tyr311 residue bearing an NBD group. CONCLUSIONS: The results presented here are consistent with a rotary catalytic mechanism of ATP synthesis and hydrolysis, which requires the sequential and concerted participation of all three catalytic sites. NBD-Cl inhibits the enzyme by preventing the modified subunit from adopting a conformation that is essential for catalysis to proceed.

4-Chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan↗
PubMed1997

Identification of the yeast ACR1 gene product as a succinate-fumarate transporter essential for growth on ethanol or acetate.

The protein encoded by the ACR1 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae belongs to a family of 35 related membrane proteins that are encoded in the fungal genome. Some of them are known to transport various substrates and products across the inner membranes of mitochondria, but the functions of 28 members of the family are unknown. The yeast ACR1 gene was introduced into Escherichia coli on an expression plasmid. The protein was over-produced as inclusion bodies, which were purified and solubilised in the presence of sarkosyl. The solubilised protein was reconstituted into liposomes and shown to transport fumarate and succinate. Its physiological role in S. cerevisiae is probably to transport cytoplasmic succinate, derived from isocitrate by the action of isocitrate lyase in the cytosol, into the mitochondrial matrix in exchange for fumarate. This exchange activity and the subsequent conversion of fumarate to oxaloacetate in the cytosol would be essential for the growth of S. cerevisiae on ethanol or acetate as the sole carbon source.

Acetates↗
PubMed1997

Model of the c-subunit oligomer in the membrane domain of F-ATPases.

A model is described of a dodecameric complex consisting of the integral membrane component subunit c of the H+-transporting Fo domain of Escherichia coli F-ATPase. A high-resolution partial structure of monomeric subunit c resulting from 1H-NMR studies [1] was used for constructing the model. The validity of the proposed arrangement of protomers in the dodecameric complex was tested by amino acid substitution analysis and chemical, biochemical and genetic data on subunit c.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1997

Identification of the yeast ARG-11 gene as a mitochondrial ornithine carrier involved in arginine biosynthesis.

The ARG-11 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a protein with the characteristic features of a family of 35 related membrane proteins that are encoded in the fungal genome. Some of them are known to transport various substrates and products across the inner membranes of mitochondria, but the functions of 29 members of the family are unknown. The yeast ARG-11 protein has been over-produced as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli. It has been solubilized in the presence of sarkosyl, re-constituted into liposomes and shown to transport ornithine in exchange for protons. Its main physiological role is probably to take ornithine synthesized from glutamate in the mitochondrial matrix to the cytosol where it is converted to arginine.

Amino Acid Transport Systems, Basic↗
PubMed1997

The crystal structure of the nucleotide-free alpha 3 beta 3 subcomplex of F1-ATPase from the thermophilic Bacillus PS3 is a symmetric trimer.

BACKGROUND: F1-ATPase, an oligomeric assembly with subunit stoichiometry alpha 3 beta 3 gamma delta epsilon, is the catalytic component of the ATP synthase complex, which plays a central role in energy transduction in bacteria, chloroplasts and mitochondria. The crystal structure of bovine mitochondrial F1-ATPase displays a marked asymmetry in the conformation and nucleotide content of the catalytic beta subunits. The alpha 3 beta 3 subcomplex of F1-ATPase has been assembled from subunits of the moderately thermophilic Bacillus PS3 made in Escherichia coli, and the subcomplex is active but does not show the catalytic cooperativity of intact F1-ATPase. The structure of this subcomplex should provide new information on the conformational variability of F1-ATPase and may provide insights into the unusual catalytic mechanism employed by this enzyme. RESULTS: The crystal structure of the nucleotide-free bacterial alpha 3 beta 3 subcomplex of F1-ATPase, determined at 3.2 A resolution, shows that the oligomer has exact threefold symmetry. The bacterial beta subunits adopt a conformation essentially identical to that of the nucleotide-free beta subunit in mitochondrial F1-ATPase; the alpha subunits have similar conformations in both structures. CONCLUSIONS: The structures of the bacterial F1-ATPase alpha and beta subunits are very similar to their counterparts in the mitochondrial enzyme, suggesting a common catalytic mechanism. The study presented here allows an analysis of the different conformations adopted by the alpha and beta subunits and may ultimately further our understanding of this mechanism.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Identification by bacterial expression and functional reconstitution of the yeast genomic sequence encoding the mitochondrial dicarboxylate carrier protein.

The inner membranes of mitochondria contain a family of transport proteins of related sequence and structure. The DNA sequence of the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes at least 35 members of this family. Three of them can be recognised as known isoforms of the ADP-ATP translocase and two others as the phosphate and citrate carriers. The transport functions of the remainder cannot be identified with certainty. One of them, encoded on yeast chromosome xii, shows a fairly close sequence relationship to the known sequence of the bovine mitochondrial oxoglutarate-malate carrier. The yeast protein has been obtained by over-expression in Escherichia coli, reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles and shown to have transport properties characteristic of the mitochondrial carrier for dicarboxylate ions, such as malate, and also phosphate, previously biochemically characterised, but not sequenced, from both mammalian and yeast mitochondria. This is the first example of the biochemical identification of an unknown membrane protein encoded in the yeast genome since the completion of the genomic sequence.

Carrier Proteins↗
PubMed1996

The ATPase inhibitor protein from bovine heart mitochondria: the minimal inhibitory sequence.

The mitochondrial ATPase inhibitor subunit is a basic protein of 84 amino acids that helps to regulate the activity of F1F0-ATPase. In order to obtain structural information on the mechanism of inhibition, the bovine inhibitor subunit has been expressed in Escherichia coli and purified in high yield. The recombinant protein has a similar inhibitory activity to the inhibitor subunit isolated from bovine mitochondria. Progressive N-terminal and C-terminal deletion mutants of the inhibitor subunit have been produced either by overexpression and purification, or by chemical synthesis. By assaying the truncated proteins for inhibitory activity, the minimal inhibitory sequence of the inhibitor subunit has been defined as consisting of residues 14-47. The immediately adjacent sequences 10-13 and 48-56 help to stabilize the complex between F1F0-ATPase and the inhibitor protein, and residues 1-9 and 57-84 appear to be dispensable. At physiological pH values, the inhibitor subunit is mainly alpha-helical and forms monodisperse aggregates in solution. Smaller inhibitory fragments of the inhibitor protein, such as residues 10-50, seem to have a mainly random coil structure in solution, but they can adopt the correct inhibitory conformation when they from a complex with the ATPase. However, these latter fragments are mainly monomeric in solution, suggesting that the aggregation of the inhibitor subunit in solution may be due to intermolecular alpha-helical coiled-coil formation via the C-terminal region. The noninhibitory peptides consisting of residues 10-40 and 23-84 of the inhibitor protein can bind to F1F0-ATPase, and interfere with inhibition by the intact inhibitor subunit. The noninhibitory fragments of the inhibitor protein consisting of residues 22-46 and 44-84 do not compete with the inhibitor subunit for its binding site on F1F0-ATPase.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1996

The F1F0-ATPase complex from bovine heart mitochondria: the molar ratio of the subunits in the stalk region linking the F1 and F0 domains.

The F1 globular catalytic domain and the F0 intrinsic membrane domain of the F1F0-ATPases in bacteria, chloroplasts, and mitochondria are connected by a slender stalk. In the F1F0 complex from bovine heart mitochondria, the stalk is thought to contain subunits OSCP, d, and F6, and the globular part of the membrane bound subunit b, referred to as b'. It has been shown previously that the OSCP, b', d, and F6 proteins can be assembled in vitro into a water soluble complex named the "stalk". The stalk and F1-ATPase together form another complex named F1.stalk. In this paper, the molar ratios of the OSCP, b (or b'), d, and F6 in the stalk, F.stalk, and F1F0-ATPase complexes have been investigated by three independent methods. By quantitation of radioactivity incorporated by S-carboxymethylation with iodo-2-[14C]acetic acid into a stalk complex containing a form of F6 with the mutation Glu3-Cys, it was shown that the stalk consists of equimolar quantities of its four constituent proteins. In the stalk complex containing the natural F6 sequence, this conclusion was confirmed both by quantitation of radioactivity incorporated by Nepsilon-acetimidation with ethyl [1-14C]acetimidate, and by quantitative N-terminal sequence analysis of subunits. By similar Nepsilon-acetimidation experiments, it has been demonstrated that the F1.stalk complex contains one copy per assembly of the OSCP, b', d, and F6 proteins and that the F1F0-ATPase contains one copy per enzyme complex of subunits OSCP, b, and d. The presence of one copy per complex of the OSCP, b' (or b), d, and F6 proteins in the F1.stalk and F1F0-ATPase complexes, respectively, was confirmed by quantitative sequencing.

Acetylation↗
PubMed1996

The structure of bovine F1-ATPase complexed with the peptide antibiotic efrapeptin.

In the previously determined structure of mitochondrial F1-ATPase determined with crystals grown in the presence of adenylyl-imidodiphosphate (AMP-PNP) and ADP, the three catalytic beta-subunits have different conformations and nucleotide occupancies. AMP-PNP and ADP are bound to subunits beta TP and beta DP, respectively, and the third beta-subunit (beta E) has no bound nucleotide. The efrapeptins are a closely related family of modified linear peptides containing 15 amino acids that inhibit both ATP synthesis and hydrolysis by binding to the F1 catalytic domain of F1F0-ATP synthase. In crystals of F1-ATPase grown in the presence of both nucleotides and inhibitor, efrapeptin is bound to a unique site in the central cavity of the enzyme. Its binding is associated with small structural changes in side chains of F1-ATPase around the binding pocket. Efrapeptin makes hydrophobic contacts with the alpha-helical structure in the gamma-subunit, which traverses the cavity, and with subunit beta E and the two adjacent alpha-subunits. Two intermolecular hydrogen bonds could also form. Intramolecular hydrogen bonds probably help to stabilize efrapeptin's two domains (residues 1-6 and 9-15, respectively), which are connected by a flexible region (beta Ala-7 and Gly-8). Efrapeptin appears to inhibit F1-ATPase by blocking the conversion of subunit beta E to a nucleotide binding conformation, as would be required by an enzyme mechanism involving cyclic interconversion of catalytic sites.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Large-scale chromatographic purification of F1F0-ATPase and complex I from bovine heart mitochondria.

A new chromatographic procedure has been developed for the isolation of F1F0-ATPase and NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) from a single batch of bovine heart mitochondria. The method employed dodecyl beta-delta-maltoside, a monodisperse, homogeneous detergent in which many respiratory complexes exhibit high activity, for solubilization and subsequent purification by ammonium sulphate fractionation and column chromatography. A combination of anion-exchange, gel-filtration, and dye-ligand affinity chromatography was used to purify both complexes to homogeneity. The F1F0-ATPase preparation contains only the 16 known subunits of the enzyme. It has oligomycin-sensitive ATP hydrolysis activity and, as demonstrated elsewhere, when reconstituted into lipid vesicles it is capable of ATP-dependent proton pumping and of ATP synthesis driven by a proton gradient [Groth and Walker (1996) Biochem. J. 318, 351-357]. The complex I preparation contains all of the subunits identified in other preparations of the enzyme, and has rotenone-sensitive NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase and NADH:ferricyanide oxidoreductase activities. The procedure is rapid and reproducible, yielding 50-80 mg of purified F1F0-ATPase and 20-40 mg of purified complex I from 1 g of mitochondrial membranes. Both preparations are devoid of phospholipids, and gel filtration and dynamic light scattering experiments indicate that they are monodisperse. Therefore, the preparations fulfil important prerequisites for structural analysis.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

ATP synthase from bovine heart mitochondria: reconstitution into unilamellar phospholipid vesicles of the pure enzyme in a functional state.

A highly purified and monodisperse preparation of proton-translocating F1F0-ATPase from bovine heart mitochondria is an assembly of 16 unlike polypeptides. This preparation has been reconstituted in the presence of various detergents into unilamellar phospholipid vesicles. Incorporation of the enzyme into vesicles increases the ATP hydrolase activity of the enzyme by 10-20-fold, depending on the detergent, and the highest activities of ATP hydrolysis, 70 units/mg, were obtained by reconstitution from dodecylmaltoside or CHAPS. This activity is mostly sensitive to inhibitors that act on the F0 membrane sector of the complex. From the quenching of the pH-sensitive probe, 9-amino-6-chloro-2-methoxyacridine, it was shown that the reconstituted enzyme was able to form a transmembrane proton gradient in an ATP-dependent manner. By co-reconstitution of the enzyme with bacteriorhodopsin, it was demonstrated that in the presence of a light-induced proton gradient the enzyme can synthesize ATP from ADP and phosphate. Therefore, the characteristic biological functions of the F1F0-ATPase in mitochondria have been demonstrated with the purified enzyme. Thus, in terms of both its physical and biochemical properties, the purified enzyme fulfils important pre-requisites for formation of two- and three-dimensional crystals.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1996

Over-production of proteins in Escherichia coli: mutant hosts that allow synthesis of some membrane proteins and globular proteins at high levels.

We have investigated the over-production of seven membrane proteins in an Escherichia coli-bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase expression system. In all seven cases, when expression of the target membrane protein was induced, most of the BL21(DE3) host cells died. Similar effects were also observed with expression vectors for ten globular proteins. Therefore, protein over-production in this expression system is either limited or prevented by bacterial cell death. From the few survivors of BL21(DE3) expressing the oxoglutarate-malate carrier protein from mitochondrial membranes, a mutant host C41(DE3) was selected that grew to high saturation cell density, and produced the protein as inclusion bodies at an elevated level without toxic effect. Some proteins that were expressed poorly in BL21(DE3), and others where the toxicity of the expression plasmids prevented transformation into this host, were also over-produced successfully in C41(DE3). The examples include globular proteins as well as membrane proteins, and therefore, strain C41(DE3) is generally superior to BL21(DE3) as a host for protein over-expression. However, the toxicity of over-expression of some of the membrane proteins persisted partially in strain C41(DE3). Therefore, a double mutant host C43(DE3) was selected from C41(DE3) cells containing the expression plasmid for subunit b of bacterial F-ATPase. In strain C43(DE3), both subunits b and c of the F-ATPase, an alanine-H(+) symporter, and the ADP/ATP and the phosphate carriers from mitochondria were all over-produced. The transcription of the gene for the OGCP and subunit b was lower in C41(DE3) and C43(DE3), respectively, than in BL21(DE3). In C43(DE3), the onset of transcription of the gene for subunit b was delayed after induction, and the over-produced protein was incorporated into the membrane. The procedure used for selection of C41(DE3) and C43(DE3) could be employed to tailor expression hosts in order to overcome other toxic effects associated with over-expression.

Ampicillin↗
PubMed1996

The structure of bovine F1-ATPase complexed with the antibiotic inhibitor aurovertin B.

In the structure of bovine mitochondrial F1-ATPase that was previously determined with crystals grown in the presence of adenylyl-imidodiphosphate (AMP-PNP) and ADP, the three catalytic beta-subunits have different conformations and nucleotide occupancies. Adenylyl-imidodiphosphate is bound to one beta-subunit (betaTP), ADP is bound to the second (betaDP), and no nucleotide is bound to the third (betaE). Here we show that the uncompetitive inhibitor aurovertin B binds to bovine F1 at two equivalent sites in betaTP and betaE, in a cleft between the nucleotide binding and C-terminal domains. In betaDP, the aurovertin B pocket is incomplete and is inaccessible to the inhibitor. The aurovertin B bound to betaTP interacts with alpha-Glu399 in the adjacent alphaTP subunit, whereas the aurovertin B bound to betaE is too distant from alphaE to make an equivalent interaction. Both sites encompass betaArg-412, which was shown by mutational studies to be involved in binding aurovertin. Except for minor changes around the aurovertin pockets, the structure of bovine F1-ATPase is the same as determined previously. Aurovertin B appears to act by preventing closure of the catalytic interfaces, which is essential for a catalytic mechanism involving cyclic interconversion of catalytic sites.

Adenylyl Imidodiphosphate↗
PubMed1996

The delta- and epsilon-subunits of bovine F1-ATPase interact to form a heterodimeric subcomplex.

The delta-subunit of bovine F1-ATPase was expressed from a bacterial vector at fairly high level in Escherichia coli, but the yield of bovine epsilon-subunit was rather low under similar conditions. However, co-expression of the proteins from a dicistronic operon delta-epsilon in the same expression vector, produced both of them in good yield in a soluble form in the bacterial cytoplasm, and by chromatography it was found that the delta- and epsilon-subunits were associated in a stable complex. The amino groups in the complex were labelled exhaustively by chemical reaction under denaturing conditions with ethyl-[1-14C]acetimidate. The alpha-amino groups of the proteins were unmodified, but complete reaction of all epsilon-amino groups in both proteins was demonstrated by determination of the molecular masses of the modified proteins by electrospray MS. The modified subunits were separated by denaturing gel electrophoresis, and from measurements of the ratio of incorporated radioactivities and the lysine contents of the proteins, it was calculated that the subcomplex contains equimolar amounts of the two proteins. As the apparent molecular mass of the complex determined by gel filtration was 29 kDa, it appears that the complex contains one copy of each protein. It is likely that the delta- and epsilon subunits are associated in a similar manner in the bovine F1-ATPase complex, and that, like a bacterial homologue of the delta-subunit, they interact with the gamma- and beta-subunits.

Animals↗