Production and characterization of a monoclonal antibody to H+ATPase

Acidification of endocytic vesicles is carried out by an ATP-dependent proton pump, H+ATPase, an FOF1 type enzyme comprised of at least 5 major subunits of 70, 56, 45, 35, and 17 kDa. A monoclonal antibody, H6.1, to H+ATPase from bovine kidney medulla, was raised to enable the structural characterization and localization of the pump. Several criteria were used to show that H6.1 recognized H+ATPase. 1.) H6.1 immunoprecipitated N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive and vanadate- and azide-insensitive solubilized ATPase activity (and GTPase activity) from both crude and purified enzyme preparations. 2.) H6.1 immunoprecipitated oligomycin-insensitive ATP-dependent proton transporting vesicles made from bovine kidney medulla, rat kidney, and CHO cells. 3.) H6.1 specifically immuno-precipitated the 5 subunits of H+ATPase from a partially purified preparation of the enzyme that had been labelled with I-125. H6.1 was then used as an immunocytochemical probe for the localization of H+ATPase. In bovine kidney medullary collecting duct, there was an intense apical staining of selected cells. In proximal tubule and in cultured CHO cells there was a granular pattern of staining characteristic of endocytic vesicles and lysosomes, suggesting that the kidney and CHO cell proton pumps are structurally related.