ATP hydrolysis-linked structural changes in the N-terminal part of the gamma subunit of Escherichia coli F1-ATPase examined by cross-linking studies.

Abstract A mutant of Escherichia coli F1-ATPase (ECF1) in which the serine residue in position 8 of the gamma subunit has been replaced by a cysteine residue (gamma S8C) has been used to study nucleotide-dependent cross-linking of the gamma subunit to a beta subunit. When examined in the presence of ADP+Mg2+, either supplied directly or as produced during catalytic turnover of ATP+Mg2+, the main cross-linked product generated using the heterobifunctional, photoactivatable, cross-linker tetrafluorophenylazide maleimide-6 had a M(r)(app) of 108,000. When ATP hydrolysis was inhibited, either by cold or by reaction with sodium azide, or when ATP hydrolysis was prevented by the use of adenyl-5'-yl beta,gamma-imidodiphosphate, the main cross-linked products were species with M(r)(app) of 102,000 and 84,000. The nucleotide-dependent switching from one cross-linking pattern to another could only be observed when the epsilon subunit was bound to ECF1; it was not seen in ECF1*, an enzyme preparation missing delta and epsilon subunits, but was observed in preparations selectively depleted of the delta subunit. We conclude that the changes detected in these cross-linking experiments are occurring during the hydrolysis of ATP when the beta-gamma phosphate bond is cleaved and that they are related to the coupling of ATP hydrolysis to proton translocation.