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At least 865 records · Page 48Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Role of a 50-57-kDa polypeptide heterodimer in the function of the clathrin-coated vesicle proton pump.

The vacuolar-type proton-translocating ATPase of clathrin-coated vesicles is composed of an integral membrane proton channel (VB) and a peripheral catalytic sector (VC). Native enzyme can catalyze the hydrolysis of both MgATP and CaATP and support proton pumping when reconstituted into liposomes. In contrast, isolated VC catalyzes only Ca(2+)-activated ATP hydrolysis and cannot support proton pumping when reconstituted into liposomes (Xie, X.-S., and Stone, D. K. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 9859-9867). We now report that solubilized isolated VC can be reassembled with purified VB to restore properties of native enzyme, including Mg(2+)-activated ATP hydrolysis and proton-pumping capability. Investigation of this reassembly revealed that a heterodimer, composed of polypeptides of 50 and 57 kDa, stimulates Ca(2+)-activated ATPase activity of isolated VC 2-fold and Mg(2+)-activated ATPase activity catalyzed by the reassembled pump 9-fold. Moreover, this heterodimer stimulated proton transport by the reassembled pump > 20-fold. When separated from the proton pump, the dimer has no detectable kinase activity. Maximal stimulation occurs at a molar ratio of heterodimer to reassembled pump of 3, implying a structural, nonenzymatic mechanism. These data indicate that the 50-kDa and/or the 57-kDa polypeptide likely plays an essential and potentially regulatory role in the function of the proton-translocating ATPase of clathrin-coated vesicles.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1996

Ion chemistry of protonated lysine derivatives.

Protonated lysine fragments primarily by elimination of the epsilon-amino group as ammonia to form an ion of m/z 130 and to a minor extent by elimination of H2O to form an ion of m/z 129. Protonated lysine derivatives such as lysine beta-naphthylamide and H-Lys-Gly-OH show more pronounced formation of m/z 129 while protonated derivatives such as N alpha-Ac-Lys-X (X = OH, OMe, NHMe) and H-Gly-Lys-X (X = OH, NHCH2COOH) also show formation of m/z 129 in both metastable ion and collision-induced fragmentation. In both the latter systems m/z 129 is formed by sequential loss of HX followed by loss of ketene for the N-acetyl derivatives or the glycine residue for the N-glycyl derivatives. Although the m/z 129 ion is nominally an acylium ion, its metastable ion characteristics and collision-induced dissociation mass spectrum are very similar to those of protonated alpha-amino-epsilon-caprolactam. It is concluded that this lactam is formed from the lysine derivatives by interaction of the amino group of the lysine side-chain with the lysine carbonyl function as HX departs. Protonated N alpha-methyllysine and N alpha-dimethyllysine fragment exclusively by elimination of CH3NH2 and (CH3)2NH, respectively. Evidence is presented that the stable structure of the m/z 130 ion so formed is protonated pipecolic acid. Both the protonated alpha-amino-epsilon-caprolactam and protonated pipecolic acid ions fragment further primarily to [C5H10N]+ (m/z 84), a low mass ion commonly observed in the spectra of lysine-containing peptides.

Caprolactam↗
PubMed2003

Free energy of proton binding in proteins.

In this article we use literature data on the titration of denatured ribonuclease to test the accuracy of proton-binding distributions obtained using our recent approach employing moments. We find that using only the local slope of the titration curve at a small number of points (five, for example) we can reproduce the detailed proton-binding distribution at all pH values. Our method gives the complete proton-binding polynomial for a given protein and each coefficient in this polynomial in turn yields the free energy for binding a given number of protons in all ways to the protein. Using these net free energies, we can then compute the average proton-binding free energy per proton as a function of the fraction of protons bound. We find that this function is remarkably similar for different proteins, even for proteins that exhibit quite different titration behavior. For the special case of binding to independent sites, we obtain simple relations for the first and last terms in the free energy per-proton function. For this special case we also can calculate the distribution functions giving the probability that a molecule has a given number of positive or negative charges and the joint distribution that a molecule simultaneously has a given number of positive and negative charge.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

The effect of HCl on the solution structure of calf thymus DNA: a comparative study of DNA denaturation by proton and metal cations using Fourier transform IR difference spectroscopy.

The interaction of HCl with calf thymus DNA was investigated in aqueous solution at pH 7-2 with H+/DNA(P) (P:phosphate) molar ratios (r) of 1/80, 1/40, 1/20, 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, and 1, using Fourier Transform (FTIR) difference spectroscopy. Correlations between spectral changes, proton binding mode, DNA denaturation, and conformational variations are established. A comparison was also made between the ir spectra of denaturated DNA, in the presence of proton and Cu ions with similar cation concentrations. The FTIR difference spectroscopic results have shown that at low proton concentrations of r = 1/80 and 1/40 (pH 7-5), no major spectral changes occur for DNA, and the presence of H+ results in an increased base-stacking interaction and helical stability. At higher proton concentrations of r > 1/40, the proton binding to the cytosine and adenine bases begins with major destabilization of the helical duplex. As base protonation progresses, a B to C conformational conversion occurs with major DNA spectral changes. Protonation of guanine bases occurs at a high cation concentration r > 1/2 (pH < 3) with a major increase in the intensity of several DNA in-plane vibrations. Copper ion complexation with DNA exhibits marked similarities with proton at high cation concentrations (r > 1/10), whereas at low metal ion concentrations, copper-PO2 and copper-guanine N-7 bindings are predominant. No major DNA conformational transition was observed on copper ion complexation.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Fragmentation pathways of protonated peptides.

The fragmentation pathways of protonated peptides are reviewed in the present paper paying special attention to classification of the known fragmentation channels into a simple hierarchy defined according to the chemistry involved. It is shown that the 'mobile proton' model of peptide fragmentation can be used to understand the MS/MS spectra of protonated peptides only in a qualitative manner rationalizing differences observed for low-energy collision induced dissociation of peptide ions having or lacking a mobile proton. To overcome this limitation, a deeper understanding of the dissociation chemistry of protonated peptides is needed. To this end use of the 'pathways in competition' (PIC) model that involves a detailed energetic and kinetic characterization of the major peptide fragmentation pathways (PFPs) is proposed. The known PFPs are described in detail including all the pre-dissociation, dissociation, and post-dissociation events. It is our hope that studies to further extend PIC will lead to semi-quantative understanding of the MS/MS spectra of protonated peptides which could be used to develop refined bioinformatics algorithms for MS/MS based proteomics. Experimental and computational data on the fragmentation of protonated peptides are reevaluated from the point of view of the PIC model considering the mechanism, energetics, and kinetics of the major PFPs. Evidence proving semi-quantitative predictability of some of the ion intensity relationships (IIRs) of the MS/MS spectra of protonated peptides is presented.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2002

Magnetic field dependence of proton spin-lattice relaxation times.

The magnetic field dependence of the water-proton spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T(1)) in tissues results from magnetic coupling to the protons of the rotationally immobilized components of the tissue. As a consequence, the magnetic field dependence of the water-proton (1/T(1)) is a scaled report of the field dependence of the (1/T(1)) rate of the solid components of the tissue. The proton spin-lattice relaxation rate may be represented generally as a power law: 1/T(1)omega = A omega(-b), where b is usually found to be in the range of 0.5-0.8. We have shown that this power law may arise naturally from localized structural fluctuations along the backbone in biopolymers that modulate the proton dipole-dipole couplings. The protons in a protein form a spin communication network described by a fractal dimension that is less than the Euclidean dimension. The model proposed accounts quantitatively for the proton spin-lattice relaxation rates measured in immobilized protein systems at different water contents, and provides a fundamental basis for understanding the parametric dependence of proton spin-lattice relaxation rates in dynamically heterogeneous systems, such as tissues.

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy↗
PubMed1994

The proton Bohr factor of native and crosslinker treated hemoglobins--its possible significance for the efficacy of hemoglobin based artificial oxygen carriers.

Especially the (alkaline) proton Bohr effect seems to provide an important self regulating mechanism of the organism to deliver specifically oxygen into tissues suffering from O2 deficit. In this way these tissues switch from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism, get lactacid, thereby shifting oxygen hemoglobin binding curve to the right and thus facilitating the oxygen release. The higher the absolute value of the proton Bohr factor (: delta logP50/ delta pH) is the better this mechanism works. To get one characteristic number the proton Bohr factor at pH 7.1 is taken. This pH in blood is about a lower limit for organism and human blood has at this pH its maximum proton Bohr factor which is about -0.5. When designing a hemoglobin based artificial oxygen carrier such a high or even a higher proton Bohr factor should be aimed at. But bringing human hemoglobin into extracellular milieu decreases the said proton Bohr effect down to -0.31; about the same values have bovine and porcine hemoglobin under these conditions. Before native hemoglobin can be used as an artificial oxygen carrier outside the red blood cells, they must be crosslinked; otherwise they are cleared quickly by the kidneys. Reaction of human and bovine hemoglobin with the crosslinkers DIBS (2,5- diisothiocyanatobenzenesulfonate) and DIDS (4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulfonate) decreases the proton Bohr effect once again substantially down to about -0.1 irrespective of the degree of polymerization (monomer and hyperpolymer). Proton Bohr factors of reaction products from various hemoglobins and different crosslinkers evaluated from measurements of other investigators largely confirm the findings of this study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

4,4'-Diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-Disulfonic Acid↗
PubMed1984

Nonequilibration of membrane-associated protons with the internal aqueous space in dark-maintained chloroplast thylakoids.

Isolated spinach thylakoids retain a slowly equilibrating pool of protons in the dark which are predominantly bound to buffering groups, probably amines, with low pKa values. We have measured the effects of permeant buffers, salts, sucrose, and uncouplers on the retention of the proton pool. Acetic anhydride, which reacts with neutral primary amine groups, was used to determine the protonation state of the amine buffering groups. It was previously shown by Baker et al. that the extent of inhibition of photosystem II water-oxidizing capacity by acetic anhydride and the increase in derivatization by the anhydride are proportional to, and dependent on, the deprotonated state of the amine buffering pool. Therefore, acetic anhydride inhibition of water oxidation activity may be used as a measure of the protonation state of the amine buffering pool. By this method it is inferred that protons, in a metastable state, were retained by membranes suspended in high pH buffer for several hours in the dark. When both the internal and external aqueous phases were equilibrated with pH 8.8 buffer, the proton pool was released only upon addition of a protonophore. The osmotic strength of the suspension buffer affected uncoupler-induced proton release while ionic strength had little influence. The acetic anhydride-sensitive buffering group(s) of the water-oxidizing apparatus had an apparent pKa of 7.8. We conclude that an array of protein buffering groups reside either within the membrane matrix, or in proteins at the membrane surface, not in equilibrium with the bulk aqueous phases, and is responsible for the retention of the proton pool in dark maintained chloroplasts.

Acetic Anhydrides↗
PubMed1982

Site-specific interaction of ATPase-pumped protons with photosystem II in chloroplast thylakoid membranes.

The chloroplast thylakoid ATPase proton pump-driven H+ accumulation in the dark was compared to the light-dependent proton pump driven by either photosystem II or I, in regard to the effects of the resultant acidity on chemical modification reactions. The assays used to detect the acidity effects were: (a)the incorporation of [3H]-acetic anhydride into membrane protein -NH2 groups, and (b) the effect of a certain level of that chemical modification on inhibition of photosystem II water oxidation activity. Based on labeling data with [3H]-acetic anhydride, 20-30 nmol.(mg chl)-1 of -NH3+ groups appear to be metastable in the dark in untreated membranes. The term metastable is used because proton leak-inducing treatments in the dark lead to about 20-30 nmol . (mg chl)-1 increase in acetic anhydride labeling probably due to reaction with the -NH2 form of amine groups. Addition of low levels of uncoupler or a brief thermal treatment caused a loss of protons from the membrane equivalent to the increase in acetic anhydride derivatization. The increase in acetic anhydride derivatization caused inhibition of water oxidation activity. Using thermally sensitized membranes, photosystem II but not photosystem I electron transport (each giving a steady-state proton accumulation of about 50 nmol H+ . (mg chl)-1 restored the lower level of acetic anhydride reactivity as in previous results (Baker et al., 1981). In dark-maintained, thermally treated membranes, ATPase activity, i.e., the proton pump associated with it, also restored the lower level of acetic anhydride labeling, and again acetic anhydride no longer inhibited water oxidation. Because photosystem I activity did not elicit this type of response to acetic anhydride, there appears to be a pathway for ATPase pumped protons which allows them to reach a restricted domain, perhaps intramembrane, common with the photosystem II water oxidation mechanism and unavailable to protons pumped by photosystem I. The membrane structure(s) which determines this site specificity is not yet understood.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1984

Correlation between membrane-localized protons and flash-driven ATP formation in chloroplast thylakoids.

Flash-driven ATP formation by spinach chloroplast thylakoids, using the luciferin luminescence assay to detect ATP formed in single turnover flashes, was studied under conditions where a membrane protein amine buffering pool was either protonated or deprotonated before the beginning of the flash trains. The flash number for the onset of ATP formation was delayed by about 10 flashes (from 15 to about 25) when the amine pool was deprotonated as compared to the protonated state. The delay was substantially reversed again by reprotonating the pool upon application of 20-30 single-turnover flashes and 8 min of dark before addition of ADP, Pi, and the luciferin system. In the case of deprotonation by desaspidin, the uncoupler was removed by binding to BSA before the reprotonating flashes were given. Reprotonation was carried out before addition of ADP and Pi, to avoid a possible interference by the ATP-ase, which can energize the system by pumping protons. The reprotonated state, as indicated by an onset lag of about 15 flashes rather than 25 for the deprotonated state, was stable in the dark over extended dark times. The number of protons released by 10 flashes is approximately 30 nmol H+ (mg chl)-1, an amount similar to the size of the reversibly protonated amine group buffering pool. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the amine buffering groups must be in the protonated state before any protons proceed to the coupling complex and energize ATP formation. Other work has suggested that the amine buffering pool is sequestered within membrane proteins rather than being exposed directly to the inner aqueous bulk phase. Therefore, it is possible that the sequestered amine group array may provide localized association-dissociation sites for proton movement to the coupling complex.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1992

NMR spectroscopy of hydroxyl protons in aqueous solutions of peptides and proteins.

Hydroxyl groups of serine and threonine, and to some extent also tyrosine are usually located on or near the surface of proteins. NMR observations of the hydroxyl protons is therefore of interest to support investigations of the protein surface in solution, and knowledge of the hydroxyl NMR lines is indispensable as a reference for studies of protein hydration in solution. In this paper, solvent suppression schemes recently developed for observation of hydration water resonances were used to observe hydroxyl protons of serine, threonine and tyrosine in aqueous solutions of small model peptides and the protein basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI). The chemical shifts of the hydroxyl protons of serine and threonine were found to be between 5.4 and 6.2 ppm, with random-coil shifts at 4 degrees C of 5.92 ppm and 5.88 ppm, respectively, and those of tyrosine between 9.6 and 10.1 ppm, with a random-coil shift of 9.78 ppm. Since these spectral regions are virtually free of other polypeptide 1H NMR signals, cross peaks with the hydroxyl protons are usually well separated even in homonuclear two-dimensional 1H NMR spectra. To illustrate the practical use of hydroxyl proton NMR in polypeptides, the conformations of the side-chain hydroxyl groups in BPTI were characterized by measurements of nuclear Overhauser effects and scalar coupling constants involving the hydroxyl protons. In addition, hydroxyl proton exchange rates were measured as a function of pH, where simple first-order rate processes were observed for both acid- and base-catalysed exchange of all but one of the hydroxyl-bearing residues in BPTI. For the conformations of the individual Ser, Thr and Tyr side chains characterized in the solution structure with the use of hydroxyl proton NMR, both exact coincidence and significant differences relative to the corresponding BPTI crystal structure data were observed.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed2005

Comparative treatment planning on localized prostate carcinoma conformal photon- versus proton-based radiotherapy.

PURPOSE: To assess the potential benefit of proton-beam therapy in comparison to 3-D conformal photon therapy and photon- based intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in prostate carcinoma for various stages of disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In five patients a 3-D conformal proton-based (two lateral beams) irradiation technique was compared with 3-D conformal photon-beam radiotherapy (four-field box) and IMRT (seven beams). For each patient different target volumes (CTVs) were defined according to early, intermediate and advanced stages of disease: CTV I consisted of the prostate gland, CTV II encompassed prostate and basis of seminal vesicles, and CTV III the prostate and seminal vesicles. Corresponding planning target volumes PTV I-III were defined by uniformly adding a margin of 5 mm to CTV I-III. Dose-volume histograms (DVHs) were analyzed for the different PTVs and various organs at risk (OARs), i.e., rectal wall, bladder, both femoral heads. In addition, maximum and mean doses were derived for the various structures and irradiated non-target tissue volumes were compared for PTV I-III and the different irradiation techniques. Finally, dose conformity and target dose homogeneity were assessed. RESULTS: With photon- and proton-based radiotherapy techniques similar dose distributions were determined for PTV I-III: mean and maximum PTV dose values were between 99-104% and 102-107% of the normalized total doses (70 Gy), respectively. Conformity indices varied from 1.4 to 1.5 for the photon techniques, whereas for proton-beam radiotherapy values ranged from 1.1 to 1.4. Both the 3-D conformal and the IMRT photon treatment technique resulted in increased mean doses (approximately 40-80%) for OARs when compared to protons. With both photon techniques non-target tissue volumes were irradiated to higher doses (mean dose difference > or = 70%) compared to proton-beam radiotherapy. Differences occurred mainly at the low and medium dose levels, whereas in high dose levels similar values were obtained. In comparison to conformal 3-D treatments IMRT reduced doses to OARs in the medium dose range, especially for the rectal wall. CONCLUSION: IMRT enabled dose reductions to OARs in the medium dose range compared to 3-D conformal radiotherapy. A rather simple two-field proton-based treatment technique further reduced doses to OARs compared to photon-beam radiotherapy. The advantageous dose distribution of proton-beam therapy for prostate cancer may result in reduced side effects, which needs to be confirmed in clinical studies.

Femur↗
PubMed2000

Influence of membrane physical state on the lysosomal proton permeability.

Influence of membrane physical state on the proton permeability of isolated lysosomes was assessed by measuring the membrane potential with 3,3'-dipropylthiadicarbocyanine iodide and monitoring their proton leakage with p-nitrophenol. Changes in the membrane order were examined by the steady-state fluorescence anisotropy of 1, 6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene. Both the membrane potential and proton leakage increased with fluidizing the lysosomal membranes by benzyl alcohol and decreased with rigidifying the membranes by cholesteryl hemisuccinate. The proton permeability increased to the maximum of 42% by the benzyl alcohol treatment and decreased to the minimum of 38.1% by the cholesteryl hemisuccinate treatment. Treating the lysosomes with protonophore CCCP increased the proton permeability by 58%. The effects of the membrane fluidization and rigidification can be reversed by rigidifying the fluidized membranes and fluidizing the rigidified membranes, respectively. The results indicate that the proton permeability of lysosomes increased and decreased with increasing and decreasing their membrane fluidity, respectively. Moreover, the lysosomal proton permeability did not alter further if the changes, either an increase or a decrease, in the fluidity exceeded some amount. The results suggest that the proton permeability of lysosomes can be modulated finitely by the alterations in their membrane physical state.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

pH-induced proton permeability changes of plasma membrane vesicles.

In vivo studies with leaf cells of aquatic plant species such as Elodea nuttallii revealed the proton permeability and conductance of the plasma membrane to be strongly pH dependent. The question was posed if similar pH dependent permeability changes also occur in isolated plasma membrane vesicles. Here we report the use of acridine orange to quantify passive proton fluxes. Right-side out vesicles were exposed to pH jumps. From the decay of the applied DeltapH the proton fluxes and proton permeability coefficients (PH+) were calculated. As in the intact Elodea plasma membrane, the proton permeability of the vesicle membrane is pH sensitive, an effect of internal pH as well as external pH on PH+ was observed. Under near symmetric conditions, i.e., zero electrical potential and zero DeltapH, PH+ increased from 65 x 10(-8) at pH 8.5 to 10(-1) m/sec at pH 11 and the conductance from 13 x 10(-6) to 30 x 10(-4) S/m2. At a constant pHi of 8 and a pHo going from 8.5 to 11, PH+ increased more than tenfold from 2 to 26 x 10(-6) m/sec. The calculated values of PH+ were several orders of magnitude lower than those obtained from studies on intact leaves. Apparently, in plasma membrane purified vesicles the transport system responsible for the observed high proton permeability in vivo is either (partly) inactive or lost during the procedure of vesicle preparation. The residue proton permeability is in agreement with values found for liposome or planar lipid bilayer membranes, suggesting that it reflects an intrinsic permeability of the phospholipid bilayer to protons. Possible implications of these findings for transport studies on similar vesicle systems are discussed.

Acridine Orange↗
PubMed1990

Phospholipid vesicles containing bovine heart mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase and subunit III-deficient enzyme: analysis of respiratory control and proton translocating activities.

Phospholipid vesicles containing bovine heart mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (COV) or subunit III (Mr 29884)-deficient enzyme (COV-III) were characterized for electron transfer and proton translocating activities in order to investigate the relationship between the respiratory control ratio (RCR) and the apparent proton translocated to electron transferred stoichiometry (H+/e- ratio) in these preparations. We did not observe a quantitative correlation between the RCR value and the H+/e- ratio in the preparations. Significant deviation between these two parameters was observed in COV-III and also in COV. However, a new parameter, RCRval, did show a linear relationship with the H+/e- ratio of each preparation. Subunit III (SIII)-deficient cytochrome c oxidase isolated by either native gel electrophoresis or chymotrypsin treatment and incorporated into COV-III exhibited H+/e- ratios of 0.34 +/- 0.10, compared to 0.63 +/- 0.09 for COV, emphasizing that the 50% decrease of proton translocating activity is independent of the method of removal of SIII from the enzyme. COV and COV-III also showed similar rates of alkalinization of the extravesicular media after the initial proton translocation reaction (0.07-0.09 neq OH-/s), suggesting that these two preparations had similar endogenous proton permeabilities. In contrast, cytochrome c oxidase (COX) treated with Triton X-100 (3 mg/mg COX) and incorporated into phospholipid vesicles [COV (+TX)] exhibited slower rates of alkalinization (0.04 neq OH-/s), while having a H+/e- ratio similar to that of COV (0.66 +/- 0.10). The passive proton permeabilities of these preparations were tested by valinomycin-induced K+/H+ exchange activity. COV (+TX) and COV-III exhibited similar pseudo-first-order rate constants (10 peq OH-/s), while COV had a 20-fold higher rate constant. These results taken together suggest that the different preparations of COX-containing phospholipid vesicles have different biophysical properties. In addition, the decrease in proton-pumping activity observed in COV-III is due to removal of SIII from COX, suggesting that SIII may act either as a passive proton-conducting channel or as a regulator of COX conformation and/or functional activities.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Time-resolved protonation dynamics of a black lipid membrane monitored by capacitative currents.

The laser-induced proton pulse (Gutman, M. (1986) Methods Enzymol. 127, 522-538) was used for transient protonation of one side of a black lipid membrane. The charging of the membrane drives an electric (voltage or current) signal selectively representing the fast proton exchange at the membrane/electrolyte interface. The sensitivity of the electric signal to the presence of buffer indicates that proton transfer is measured, not some dyes or membrane photoelectric artifact. The same event can be visualized in an analogous system consisting of a pH indicator adsorbed to neutral detergent-phospholipid mixed micelles. The time-resolved light absorption transient is equivalent to the electrically determined transient charging of the membrane surface. The sensitivity of the current measurement exceeds the spectrophotometric method by 6-8 orders of magnitudes. As little as 10(-18) mol of H+ reacting with 0.75 mm2 of the membrane surface can be monitored in a time-resolved observation. Both types of observed transients were accurately reconstructed by the numerical solution of coupled, non-linear, differential equations describing the system. The rate constants of the various proton transfer reactions were calculated and found to be of diffusion controlled reactions. There is no evidence for any barrier at the interface which either prevents protons from reaching the membrane, or keeps proton on the interface. The electric measurements can be applied for monitoring proton transfer kinetics of complex biomembrane preparations.

Hydrogen-Ion Concentration↗
PubMed1985

Proton exchange and base-pair kinetics of poly(rA).poly(rU) and poly(rI).poly(rC).

Proton exchange of poly(rA).poly(rU) and poly(rI).poly(rC) has been studied by nuclear magnetic resonance line broadening and saturation transfer from H2O. Five exchangeable peaks are observed. They are assigned to the imino, amino and 2'-OH ribose protons. The aromatic spectrum is also assigned. Contrary to previous observations, we find that the exchange of the imino proton is strongly buffer sensitive. This property is used to derive the base-pair lifetime, which is in the range of milliseconds at 27 degrees C, 100 times smaller than published values. The enthalpy for the base-opening reaction (-86 kJ/mol) and the insensitivity of the reaction to magnesium suggest that the open state involves a small number of base-pairs. The similarities in the exchange from the two duplexes indicate that the same open state is responsible for exchange of purine and pyrimidine imino protons. For the lifetime of the open state and for the base-pair dissociation constant, we obtain only lower limits. At 27 degrees C they are three microseconds and 10(-3), respectively. The analysis that yields the much larger values published previously is based on the assumption that amino protons exchange only from open base-pairs. But theory and preliminary experiments indicate that it may occur from the closed duplex. The exchange of amino protons is slower than that of the imino protons. Exchange of the 2'-OH protons from the duplexes is much slower than from single-stranded poly(rU), and it is accelerated by magnesium. This could indicate hydrogen-bonding to backbone phosphate. Discrepancies between our results and those of previous studies are discussed.

Kinetics↗
PubMed1992

A four-proton-families model for pH-dependent enzyme activation: application to intestinal brush border sucrase.

Current concepts of pH-dependent enzyme function are expanded to consider enzymes with up to four key proton families. In an earlier paper the authors extended classical theory to explain the existence, in the acid ionization reaction, of two functionally distinct, V and K, proton families, exemplified by the 1988 sucrase three-proton-families model of Vasseur et al. They now propose that enzymes having two distinguishable proton families at each side of the pH-activity curves exist in nature although there is no previously published evidence of their existence. The resulting, more general, four-proton-families model is treated as a useful framework from which submodels can be derived by simplification, the simplest being the 1911 linear model of Michaelis and Davidsohn, which took into account two proton families out of the theoretical maximum of four proposed here. It is shown that whether a three-proton-families or a four-proton-families model can explain sucrase better is not merely a question of theory but also involves the practical question of having enough data, at each side of the pH spectrum, to permit making an unequivocal choice between the two alternatives. The paper concludes with a discussion of substrate-induced pK shifts according to both models.

Animals↗