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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 280, Issue 18, 18393-18402, May 6, 2005
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From the Department of Chemistry, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana 47306
Received for publication, November 8, 2004 , and in revised form, January 31, 2005.
| ABSTRACT |
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mutants, including T6A and D233A, which only had 25% of the wild-type ATPase activity. Residues Ser-78 and Thr-202 were essential for V1Vo assembly and function. The mutation S78A destabilized subunit E and prevented assembly of V1 subunits at the membranes. Mutant T202A membranes exhibited 2-fold increased Vmax and about 2-fold less of V1Vo assembly; the mutation increased the specific activity of V1Vo by enhancing the kcat of the enzyme 4-fold. Reduced levels of V1Vo and Vo complexes at T202A membranes suggest that the balance between V1Vo and Vo was not perturbed; instead, cells adjusted the amount of assembled V-ATPase complexes in order to compensate for the enhanced activity. These results indicated communication between subunit E and the catalytic sites at the A3B3 hexamer and suggest potential regulatory roles for the carboxyl end of subunit E. At the carboxyl end, alanine substitution of Asp-233 significantly reduced ATP hydrolysis, although the truncation 229-233
and the point mutation K230A did not affect assembly and activity. The implication of these results for the topology and functions of subunit E within the V-ATPase complex are discussed. | INTRODUCTION |
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Amino acid sequence conservation and heterologous genetic complementation of V-ATPase subunits from mammals and plants in yeast (5-11) have shown that V-ATPases are structurally and functionally highly conserved pumps. The yeast V-ATPase complex consists of 14 different subunits organized into two domains, V1 and Vo (1-3). ATP hydrolysis is catalyzed in V1, which is peripherally bound to the cytosolic side of the membrane and consists of subunits A-H. Integral to the membrane is Vo, which forms the proton transporting domain and consists of subunits a, c, c', c'', d, and e (2, 3, 12). Connecting V1 to Vo are one central stalk made of subunits D and F and one to three peripheral stalks consisting of subunits C, E, G, H, and the amino terminus domain of the Vo subunit a (13-17).
V-ATPases operate by a rotary mechanism of proton transport (18, 19) similar to that of the F-ATPases (20, 21), and both molecular motors share functional homolog subunits involved in rotation and catalysis (22). Similar to subunits
and
of the mitochondrial F-ATPase enzyme, subunits A and B form a hexamer where ATP binds and is hydrolyzed by the V1 domain. Subunit D is functionally equivalent to
of F1 and constitutes the rotating central stalk tightly associated with the proteolipid rotor in Vo. Comparable with subunits a and c from F0, the ring of proteolipid subunits (c, c', and c'') and the Vo subunit a form the path for proton transport across the membrane. Despite an overall structural similarity, there are important differences that distinguish V-ATPases from F-ATPases. One difference is the possibility of two or three peripheral stalks per V1Vo, rather than one, as revealed by two-dimensional electron microscopy analysis (13, 14).
The number of peripheral stalks and the stoichiometry of subunit E per V-ATPase complex are important issues yet unresolved. Although quantitative amino acid analysis suggests the presence of only one subunit E (23) and two subunits G (24) per complex, there is a question of whether two or three subunits E are assembled (25-27). Cross-linking studies showed that subunit E extends from the top of V1 to Vo and interacts with the external surface of subunit B at the A3B3 hexamer (28, 29). At the periphery of the A3B3 hexamer, subunit E is in close proximity to the peripheral stalk subunits C, H, and G of V1 (24) and the amino end of the Vo subunit a, which is predicted to anchor V1 at the membrane (30-32). By making contact with all components of the peripheral stalk(s), subunit E (and possibly G) may represent the foundation for the peripheral stalk(s) (17, 28, 29). Subunits E and G assemble into E-G dimers (33), and two E-G dimers, associated each with a B subunit, could represent the two peripheral masses detected by two-dimensional electron microscopy of the yeast V1 complex (34).
The structure and number of peripheral stalks could play a role regulating V-ATPase function by reversible disassembly, a mechanism exclusive of the V-type pump (35-37). In the absence of glucose, V1 dissociates from Vo, and disassembly stops ATP hydrolysis and proton transport and helps preventing energy depletion. V1 inactivation is accomplished, at least in part, by major structural changes involving subunits D and H (17, 24, 38) and dissociation of subunit C (35). New interactions between subunit H and the central stalk subunit D are formed in V1 complexes free of Vo (24), where subunit H may bridge subunits E and G (17). Furthermore, reversible disassembly is a post-translational event (35), and interactions between V-ATPase subunits and other cellular proteins impart an additional level of regulation. The regulator of ATPase of vacuolar and endosomal membranes (RAVE) complex and the glycolytic enzyme aldolase have been shown to interact with V-ATPase subunits in a glucose-dependent manner (17, 39-42).
Genetic and biochemical studies have revealed the importance of subunit E for V1Vo assembly (43, 44) and its potential regulatory role by interacting with RAVE and other proteins (17, 41, 42). Genetic screens searching for loss of subunit E function identified one functional mutation, the only V-ATPase temperature-sensitive mutant that has been described (44). The mutation D145G resulted in defective assembly of the V-ATPase complex and was very informative by showing the essential function of V-ATPases during yeast cell cycle progression. However, this is the only mutant for subunit E that has been characterized. This study, aimed at mapping functionally important regions along the open reading frame of subunit E, revealed new insights into the structural organization of the subunit E within the V1Vo complex. Our results support a model where the amino end of subunit E interacts with subunits H and G and Ser-78 is essential for E subunit stability and assembly. Thr-202 probably orients toward V1 and interacts with the A3B3 hexamer. At the carboxyl end half of subunit E, Thr-202 has the capacity to regulate ATP hydrolysis.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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-D-glucopyranoside was from Calbiochem. Alkaline phosphatase-conjugated secondary antibodies were purchased from Promega. The QuikChange mutagenesis kit was from Stratagene. Ampholytes, prestained broad range molecular protein markers, nitroblue tetrazolium and 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate were purchased from Bio-Rad. All other reagents were purchased from Sigma.
The vma4
strain, SF838-1D
vma4
(Mat
ade6 leu2-3,112 ura3-52 pep4-3 his4-519 gal2 vma4
::URA3) (43), was obtained from Patricia M. Kane. The wild-type strain referred to throughout the following study is the vma4
strain that has been transformed with the CEN plasmid pRS315 carrying the wild-type VMA4 gene, which fully complements the growth phenotype of a vma4
strain (44).
The vma4
mutant strain was grown in yeast extract/peptone/2% dextrose medium buffered to pH 5.0 with 50 mM sodium phosphate, 50 mM sodium succinate (YEPD pH 5). After transformation (45), the vma4
mutant with plasmids containing either the wild-type or mutant gene, was maintained in fully supplemented minimal medium lacking leucine adjusted to pH 5 (SD-Leu, pH 5).
Site-directed Mutagenesis
Mutagenesis was performed using the QuikChange site-directed mutagenesis kit from Stratagene according to the manufacturer's protocol. The VMA4 gene cloned in the BamHI site of the CEN vector pRS315 was used as template. The primers used for mutagenesis (shown below) and their complementary oligonucleotides (not shown) were as follows with the substitution sites underlined and the position of deletion indicated by an asterisk: S2A, 5'-CCGATACAGCATGGCCTCCGCTATTACTGC-3'; T6A, 5'-CGATGTCCTCCGCTATTGCTGCTTTGACACCAAACC-3'; T9A, 5'-CCGCTATTACTGCTTTGGCACCAAACCAAGTGAACG-3'; S78A, 5'-GCTTTCGCAACAGATTACTAAGGCAACGATAGCAAACAAAATG-3'; Y160A, 5'-CGACATTATGCGTGAGGCTGGGGAAAAGGCCCAGCGC-3'; T202A, 5'-GACAAGATTGAAATTAACAACGCTTTGGAGGAAAGA-3'; K230A, 5'-GGTCCTTCCAAGACAAGAGCGTTCTTTGATTGATCGACC-3'; D233A, 5'-GACAAGAAAGTTCTTTGCTTGATCGACCAGCAGCTTGTATAC-3'; 229-233
, 5'-GGTCCTTCCAAGACA*TGATCGACCAGCAGC-3'. The mutant T202A served as template to generate the double mutant T202A/D233A by using the D233A oligonucleotides described above. Mutations were confirmed by sequencing at the Sequencing Facility of Iowa State University, and plasmids were used to transform the vma4 null (vma4
::URA3) yeast strain by the lithium acetate method (45). Transformants were selected on SD-Leu, pH 5, and growth mutant phenotype was assessed on SD-Leu plates buffered to pH 5 as described above, plates buffered to 7.5 (pH was adjusted with 50 mM MOPS, 50 mM MES buffer, pH 7.5), and SD-Leu plates, pH 7.5, containing 60 mM CaCl2 (44).
Purification of Vacuolar Membranes
Vacuolar membranes were purified by flotation as described before (46). Six liters of yeast cells grown overnight to 1 A600/ml in SD-Leu, pH 5, medium were harvested by centrifugation at 5,000 rpm in a GSA rotor, washed in 10 mM Tris·HCl, pH 7.5, containing 1.2 M sorbitol, and converted to spheroplasts by the addition of zymolase 100T (0.1 units/A600). Spheroplasts were washed in YEPD containing 1.2 M sorbitol, and pellets were subjected to osmotic lysis by Dounce homogenization in lysis buffer (10 mM MES-Tris, pH 6.9, 0.1 mM MgCl2, 12% Ficoll). Vacuoles were floated by two consecutive Ficoll gradients (8 and 12%), converted to vacuolar membrane vesicles by dilution in 15 mM MES, pH 7, 4.8% glycerol buffer, and stored at -80 °C.
Whole Cell Lysates
Wild-type and mutant cells (30 ml) were grown overnight to midlog phase (0.6-1.0 A600/ml SD-Leu, pH 5, medium), harvested, and resuspended in 10 mM Tris·HCl, pH 9.4, containing 10 mM dithiothreitol. After a 5-min incubation at 30 °C, cells were washed in 10 mM Tris·HCl, pH 7.5, plus 1.2 M sorbitol (washing buffer) and converted to spheroplasts by incubation with 10 units of zymolase, rocking for 20 min at 30 °C. Spheroplasts were resuspended in washing buffer, washed twice, and lysed by the addition of 50 µl of cracking buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 6.8, 8 M urea, 5% SDS, 1 mM EDTA, 5%
-mercaptoethanol) prewarmed to 50 °C. Lysis was completed by incubation at 50 °C for 20 min.
Two-dimensional Electrophoresis
Wild-type and D233A mutant vacuolar membranes were pelleted by centrifugation and resuspended in sample buffer (9.5 M urea, 2% Triton 100, 5%
-mercaptoethanol, 1.6% Bio-Lyte 5/7 ampholyte, 0.4% Bio-Lyte 3/10 ampholyte) at a final concentration of 2 µg/µl. Samples were kept at room temperature for at least 15 min and loaded (10-20 µg) on top of a capillary polyacrylamide gel. When wild-type and D233A mutant vesicles were combined, 10 µg of each was loaded. Vesicles were overlaid with 20 µl of overlay buffer (9 M urea, 0.8% Bio-Lyte 5/7 ampholyte, 0.2% Bio-Lyte 3/10 ampholyte, 0.005% bromphenol blue) and electrophoresed overnight at 250 V in a minigel system from Bio-Rad. For second dimension electrophoresis, capillary gels were loaded onto 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gels and covered with cracking buffer, and protein was separated at 150 mV. Gels were transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane and analyzed by Western blots.
Glycerol Gradient Centrifugation
Vacuolar membranes were washed twice in 10 mM Tris·HCl, pH 7.5, 1 mM EDTA buffer. Washed vacuolar membranes were resuspended in 10 mM Tris·HCl, pH 7.5, 1 mM EDTA, 2 mM dithiothreitol, 0.1%
-mercaptoethanol, 10% glycerol at a final protein concentration of 5 mg/ml and solubilized in 2% octyl-
-D-glucopyranoside. Detergent-solubilized membranes were loaded on top of a 10.5-ml 20-50% glycerol step gradient (47, 48). Gradients consisted of equal volume steps varying by 5% glycerol containing 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 1 mM EDTA, 0.35% octyl-
-D-glucopyranoside, and a mixture of protease inhibitors (1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 1 µg/ml pepstatin, 5 µg/ml aprotinin, 2 µg/ml chymostatin, 1 µg/ml leupeptin). Gradients were centrifuged at 48,000 rpm (200,000 x g) for 16 h in a Beckman 90Ti rotor. Fractions (0.5 ml) were collected from the bottom of the tube. An aliquot was taken from each fraction to measure its density by using a hand-held refractometer. Fractions (0.45 ml) were precipitated by the addition of trichloroacetic acid to a final concentration of 10%, and pellets were resuspended in 30 µl of cracking buffer. 10 µl of each fraction was separated in 10% gels by SDS-PAGE and analyzed using Western blots. When indicated, selected fractions were loaded onto 12% polyacrylamide gels, and the V-ATPase subunits were visualized by silver staining. Otherwise, fractions (0.3 ml) were precipitated, and pellets were resuspended in 10 µl of 1 M Tris·HCl, pH 7.5, to determine protein concentration as described by Bradford (49).
Other Biochemical Methods
ATPase assaysATPase activity was measured spectrophotometrically using a coupled enzymatic assay, where ATP hydrolysis was followed at 340 nm coupled to oxidation of NADH at 37 °C (50). Each reaction contained 10-30 µg of vacuolar membrane protein (or 1-1.5 µg of V1Vo purified by glycerol gradients) in the presence and absence of 1-10 µM concanamycin A (51). To estimate Km and Vmax, ATPase activity of wild-type and T202A vacuolar membranes (30 µg) was measured in the presence and absence of 1.8 µM concanamycin A at ATP concentrations of 0.005, 0.01, 0.03, 0.075, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.75, 1, 2, and 3 mM in the presence of 5 mM MgCl2.
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Western BlotsVacuolar membranes were harvested by centrifugation, solubilized in cracking buffer at 70 °C for 20 min, and subjected to SDS-PAGE in 10% acrylamide gels or two-dimensional gel electrophoresis as described above. Proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes at 150 mA overnight followed by a 1-2-h transfer at 200 mA. Membranes were blotted with 2% nonfat dry milk and incubated with the monoclonal antibodies 10D7, 8B1, 13D11, and 7A2 against subunits a, A, B, and C generously donated by Dr. Patricia M. Kane (Upstate Medical University, SUNY, Syracuse, NY) and with polyclonal antibodies against subunits E and D (a kind gift from Dr. Daniel Klionsky, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI) and subunits d and H (a kind gift from Dr. Tom Stevens, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR). IgG anti-mouse and anti-rabbit secondary antibodies were conjugated to alkaline phosphatase, and blots were developed by the addition of nitroblue tetrazolium and 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate as described before (48).
| RESULTS |
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Yeast Growth PhenotypeThe effect of these mutations on V-ATPase function was first examined by growing yeast cells in SD-Leu plates adjusted to pH 5, pH 7.5, and at pH 7.5 plus 60 mM CaCl2. Because impairment of V-ATPase function causes a conditionally lethal phenotype (vacuolar membrane ATPase (vma) phenotype) in yeast cells, vma mutants grow in medium buffered to pH 5 but fail to grow at pH 7.5 and in the presence of CaCl2 (53, 54). Serial dilutions of vma4
cells expressing a mutant allele of the VMA4 gene from the CEN plasmid pRS315 are shown in Fig. 2. Only the mutations S78A and T202A/D233A exhibited a vma growth phenotype comparable with cells lacking the VMA4 gene (vma4
) (44) and cells transformed with the plasmid alone (pRS315). This phenotype indicates that the mutations S78A and T202A/D233A impaired V-ATPase function in vivo. All other mutations exhibited wild-type growth under these conditions, indicating that cells retained either full or partial V-ATPase activity (55, 56).
Characterization of Vacuolar MembranesCellular fractionation by Ficoll gradients allows isolation of uniform sized sealed vesicles where V-ATPases are oriented outwards (46). We studied assembly of the V-ATPase complex and ATPase activity at vacuolar membranes purified by Ficoll gradient centrifugation from each strain. Mutants were first examined for the ability to assemble V1Vo complexes (Fig. 3A). Western blot analyses showed that, with the exception of the mutant S78A, mutations did not prevent V-ATPase assembly at the vacuole as indicated by the presence of V1 (A, B, C, and D) and Vo (a and d) subunits in these preparations. The mutant S78A did not assemble V1 subunits at the vacuolar membrane; subunits A, B, C, and D from V1 were not present, although the Vo subunits a and d were detected at wild-type levels. We measured ATP hydrolysis in the presence and absence of the V-ATPase inhibitor concanamycin A as a means of assessing V-ATPase specific activity in these membranes (51). As shown in Table I, vacuoles from cells harboring the mutations S2A, T9A, Y160A, and K230A showed concanamycin A-sensitive ATPase activity comparable with wild-type membranes (within 20-40%). The mutations T6A, at the amino end of subunit E, and D233A, at carboxyl end, showed significantly reduced ATPase levels (by 73% or more). We referred to these mutants as inactive in vitro, because they did not exhibit the vma mutant phenotype. No ATPase activity was detected in vacuolar preparations from S78A cells, as expected from their inability to grow at neutral pH and the absence of V1 subunits at the membranes. Vacuoles from the mutant T202A were interesting, because they showed 2-fold more specific activity than wild-type membranes. The mutants S78A, T202A, D233A, and T6A were further characterized.
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cells (43); both contain only Vo complexes (Fig. 3A). Because the absence of any V1 subunit, except for subunit H (57, 58), prevents assembly and targeting of the other V1 subunits to yeast vacuoles (43, 58), we performed whole cell lysates of the S78A mutant to determine whether subunit E and/or other V1 subunits were destabilized by the mutation. As shown in Fig. 3B, subunit E was not detected by Western blots, although very low levels were detected in other preps. V1 subunits A, B, and D were present, indicating that the mutation S78A destabilized subunit E and prevented V1Vo assembly.
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Characterization of the Mutants T6A and D233AIn order to better understand why vacuolar membranes from the mutants T6A and D233A were inactive, we looked for the presence of subunit H. Although inactive V1Vo complexes can be assembled in the absence of subunit H (24, 57, 60), lack of subunit H was not the reason for T6A inactivation. However, it could account for the lost of activity in D233A membranes. Western blots showed that subunit H was present in both mutant membranes (Fig. 3C), but it was significantly lower in D233A.
Subunit E assembled into V1Vo complexes purified from cells carrying the mutation D233A migrated differently from the wild-type subunit E in SDS-PAGE gels (Fig. 3A). We estimated a relative mobility shift of about 1.5 kDa, which was sustained even after exposure of D233A mutant vacuolar membranes to prolonged denaturing treatment at 95 °C for 45 min in the presence of cracking buffer (8 M urea, 5% SDS, and 5%
-mercaptoethanol) (not shown). Regardless of the structural nature responsible for this mobility, density gradient centrifugation of detergent-solubilized D233A membranes indicated that the mutation did not change the hydrodynamic properties of the V-ATPase complex. At least at this level of resolution, fractionation of V1Vo and Vo complexes from D233A vacuolar membranes was not different from wild-type membranes (Fig. 5). Because the loss of one small subunit would not change the mobility in glycerol gradients, silver-stained gels of isolated peaks were examined. Silver-stained gels containing V1Vo complexes purified by the gradient (fraction 8) showed the same subunit composition of wild type with exception of the shifted mobility in subunit E (not shown). Although highly sensitive, silver staining of proteins is not quantitative, and we cannot exclude the possibility that reduced levels of subunit H inactivated V1Vo complexes harboring the mutation D233A.
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The Double Mutation D233A/T202A Is Detrimental for Function and AssemblyWe showed that alanine substitution of Thr-202 and Asp-233 separately generated distinctive V1Vo complexes. Both strains exhibited wild-type growth (Fig. 2), but V1Vo from T202A cells was more active than wild type, and V1Vo from D233A was less active (Table I). We generated the double mutant T202A/D233A and examined the effect of this mutation on V-ATPase assembly and function. Combined, these mutations had a detrimental effect on V-ATPase function. T202A/D233A showed slower growth than wild-type cells at pH 5 and exhibited the vma mutant growth phenotype; cells were unable to grow at neutral pH and in the presence of CaCl2. As expected from the cell growth characteristics, D233A/T202A had significantly less ATPase activity than the wild-type enzyme. The activity was reduced by more than 90% in vacuolar membranes (Fig. 7) and glycerol gradient fractions containing V1Vo complexes (D233A/T202A = 0.10 µmol of Pi/min/mg versus WT = 1.37 µmol of Pi/min/mg). Although subunit E mobility resembled the wild type, significantly lower levels of subunits E, D, and C were detected (Figs. 5 and 7). V1 and Vo subunits were present and assembled into V1Vo (Fig. 5), but mutant D233A/T202A V1Vo complexes sedimented at lower density (34% glycerol) than wild-type (36% glycerol) (Fig. 5), showing that V-ATPase complexes were structurally different.
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) did not have the vma mutant phenotype; cells exhibited wild-type growth at neutral pH and in the presence of CaCl2 (Fig. 2). V1Vo assembly was normal in this strain, but it was unexpected that vacuolar membranes retained wild-type levels of concanamycin A-sensitive ATPase activity (Fig. 7), because the mutant D233A was inactive (Table I). These observations showed that a single amino acid substitution at position 233 was more harmful than the removal of the last five residues of subunit E. We concluded that residues 229-233 of subunit E are not essential for V-ATPase assembly and function, and the significance of this outcome is discussed below. | DISCUSSION |
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cells. However, only the mutations S2A, T9A, Y160A, and K230A did not have any obvious mechanistic effect on catalysis.
At the amino terminus, we made point mutations of Ser-2, Thr-6, and Thr-9. T6A had an effect on the enzyme function. Subunit E-T6A sustained V1Vo assembly, but the enzyme lacked V-ATPase activity in purified vacuolar membranes. Although this outcome was surprising because T6A mutants complemented the growth phenotype of vma4
mutants, Table I shows that T6A mutant pumps retained sufficient residual levels of activity to sustain wild-type growth. V-ATPase mutants can lose up to 70-75% of their function and still retain wild-type growth characteristics (55, 56). In yeast (vma13
cells) (57, 58) and the bovine enzyme (16), inactive V1Vo complexes can be assembled in the absence of subunit H, and Lu et al. (70) showed that the amino end of subunit E (residues 1-83) interacts with subunit H in a two-hybrid system and in vitro. We examined whether the inhibitory effect of the mutation was caused by dissociation of subunit H in vitro during the process of vacuolar purification. Wild-type levels of subunit H were detected in vacuolar membranes isolated from T6A cells (Fig. 3C), indicating that the mutation did not displace subunit H from the complex. In yeast, overexpression of residues 1-83 could not displace subunit H either but inhibited V-ATPase activity (70). Therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that the mutation T6A could have an effect on E-H interactions.
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cells), subunit E is degraded (71). Dimer formation between subunits E and G has been shown (33), and it may be equivalent to the b-b dimer of the F1F0 from Escherichia coli (72), where each individual subunit is essential for assembly of F1 (73) and has a specialized function within the peripheral stalk (74). Functional parallels may exist between Ala-79 of the b dimer of E. coli and the residues Tyr-46 and Ser-78 of the yeast V-ATPase subunits G and E, respectively. Like Ala-79 (73), Tyr-46 and Ser-78 are highly conserved, and both residues may be essential for G-E dimer formation in yeast. Charsky et al. (59) showed that the stability of subunit E was compromised by the mutation Y46A in subunit G. We observed that the mutation S78A near the amino end of subunit E had a similar outcome, suggesting that interactions involving the residue Ser-78 and subunit G may be stabilizing as well. Whether S78A also affected the stability of subunit G was not addressed, but it has been shown that in the absence of E, subunit G is stable (71). Thr-202 is also highly conserved, and vacuolar membranes from the mutant T202A exhibited twice more concanamycin A-sensitive ATPase activity than wild-type membranes. This is the only hyperactive mutant we observed, and our results indicated that T202A enhanced activity by a catalytic effect of the mutation rather than by hyperassembly of V1Vo at the membranes. Quantitative immunoblots of purified vacuolar membranes as well as glycerol gradient fractionation showed reduced levels of both V1Vo and Vo (Figs. 4A and 5). These observations suggest that cells adjusted the amount of V-ATPase subunits at the membrane in order to compensate for the enhanced activity of the enzyme, perhaps to prevent unnecessary ATP hydrolysis. Hyperactive mutants of the V-ATPase complex are unusual, and when these mutations are at peripheral stalk subunits, V1 and Vo interactions are generally affected. For example, mutations at subunit G enhanced ATPase activity, because V1 disassembly was partially reduced, increasing the amount of V1 sectors assembled at the membranes (59). Curtis et al. (56) found mutations at the carboxyl end of subunit C, which increased the kcat of the enzyme, but V1Vo complexes were less stable. Recent crystallographic structures of subunit C predict that some of these residues interact with the A3B3 hexamer (75). The mutant T202A exhibited a 2-fold increase of Vmax and about 2-fold less V1Vo assembly at the membranes, indicating that the mutation increased the kcat of the enzyme by a factor of 4. As expected, specific activity measured in peak fractions containing T202A mutant V1Vo complexes purified by gradients was 4-fold higher than the wild-type. To our knowledge, this is the first point mutation described in an accessory V-ATPase subunit that exhibited enhanced ATP hydrolytic activity while allowing stable assembly of V1Vo complexes. A mechanistic effect on catalysis that increases ATP hydrolysis could have occurred if the mutation T202A generated structural changes at the A3B3 hexamer. Communication between peripheral stalk subunits and the nucleotide binding sites was previously described. Treatment of the clathrin-coated vesicle enzyme with cystine, which modifies Cys-254 in subunit A, results in dissociation of subunit H (24). In plants, AMP-PNP binding generates structural changes on subunit E (76, 77). Direct interactions between subunit E and the external surface of subunit B have been shown in yeast (28, 29). Cysteine cross-linking experiments using an energy-minimized model of the subunit B based on the crystal structure of the mitochondrial F1-ATPase showed that subunit E is in close proximity of Ala-15, Lys-45, Glu-106, Asp-199, Glu-494, and Thr-501 of subunit B. Interactions between Thr-202 of subunit E and one or more residues at the surface of subunit B could be affected by the mutation and structural changes transmitted to the catalytic sites. Residues like Asp-199 of subunit B, which are closer to the ATP-binding site (28, 29), would be good candidates to interact with Thr-202 of subunit E. Although we consistently observed little or none of the 75-kDa proteolytic product of the a subunit commonly detected by the monoclonal antibody 10D7 in immunoblottings (Fig. 5) of this mutant, it is not known at this time whether this protection contributed to the enhanced catalysis of the mutant T202A.
Sequence alignment of subunit E showed 82% conservation between residues 195 and 233 of the carboxyl end (34% identity). Although highly conserved in yeast, mammals, and insects, the last five residues of subunit E are not conserved in plants. We showed that truncation of the last five amino acids (229-233
) and alanine substitution of Lys-230 (K230A) did not affect the enzyme assembly and activity, suggesting that these residues are not essential for function of the yeast V-ATPase. However, the mutant D233A showed a different phenotype. D233A resembled the mutant T6A at the amino end because both were inactive for ATP hydrolytic activity in vitro but did not exhibit mutant growth characteristics. Partially active V1Vo complexes, which sustained wild-type growth, could be assembled in D233A membranes. The mutation could have destabilized E-H interactions, and further inactivation in vitro produced during vacuolar purification. Western blots showed significantly reduced levels of subunit H in D233A vacuolar membranes (Fig. 3C). The carboxyl end of subunit E did not interact with subunit H by two-hybrid assay (70), but it could be because the carboxyl end is further folded into a particular configuration. A functional folding was probably retained upon deletion of residues 229-233, but substituting Asp-233 with alanine disrupted it. Our findings could be explained if structural changes generated by the mutation D233A were transmitted to the A3B3 hexamer, to subunit H, or if the carboxyl end of subunit E directly interacts with H.
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mutant membranes (Table I).
New insights into the topology of the subunit E within the V-ATPase complex are emerging. The amino end of subunit E is probably closer to Vo at the membrane because it interacts with subunit H (70), which localizes at the interface between V1 and Vo as shown by genetics studies (30) and two-dimensional electron microscopy analysis (16). Our results are consistent with a model where subunit E interacts with subunits G and H. A dimer involving subunits E and G may include the amino-terminal end of G (Tyr-46) (59) and residues surrounding Ser-78 in subunit E. Secondary structure predictions based on subunit E amino acid sequence analysis indicate that subunit E is highly
-helical. However, if subunit E forms a continuous helix that extends from V1 to Vo, it would extend about 2-fold the distance between the top of V1 and the membrane (14). Subunit E could have additional folding at its carboxyl-terminal half. Our results support the idea that a more complex structure may reside at the carboxyl-terminal region, which could possibly interact with subunit H. Although the carboxyl-terminal domain of subunit E is highly conserved, no other functional information about this region is available, and our study opens new vistas about the function of the peripheral stalk subunit E during catalysis. For instance, subunit E could communicate cellular changes to the catalytic sites upon binding to regulatory proteins like RAVE, which interact with subunit E as a means of regulating V-ATPase function. We are investigating the effect of these mutations on V1Vo reversible disassembly, and future experiments will study RAVE-V1 interactions in these and other mutations of subunit E.
| FOOTNOTES |
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To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Chemistry, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306. Tel.: 765-285-8146; Fax: 765-285-6505; E-mail: kparrabelky{at}bsu.edu.
1 The abbreviations used are: V-ATPase, vacuolar proton-translocating adenosine triphosphatase; V1Vo, V-ATPase proton pump; MOPS, 4-morpholinepropanesulfonic acid; MES, 4-morpholineethanesulfonic acid; AMP-PNP, 5'-adenylyl-
,
-imidodiphosphate. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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