Interacting Helical Surfaces of the Transmembrane Segments of Subunits a and c′ of the Yeast V-ATPase Defined by Disulfide-mediated Cross-linking

Abstract Proton translocation by the vacuolar (H+)-ATPase (or V-ATPase) has been shown by mutagenesis to be dependent upon charged residues present within transmembrane segments of subunit a as well as the three proteolipid subunits (c, c′, and c″). Interaction between R735 in TM7 of subunit a and the glutamic acid residue in the middle of TM4 of subunits c and c′ or TM2 of subunit c″ has been proposed to be essential for proton release to the luminal compartment. In order to determine whether the helical face of TM7 of subunit a containing R735 is capable of interacting with the helical face of TM4 of subunit c′ containing the essential glutamic acid residue (Glu-145), cysteine-mediated cross-linking between these subunits in yeast has been performed. Cys-less forms of subunits a and c′ as well as forms containing unique cysteine residues were constructed, introduced together into a strain disrupted in both endogenous subunits, and tested for growth at neutral pH, for assembly competence and for cross-linking in the presence of cupric-phenanthroline by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. Four different cysteine mutants of subunit a were each tested pairwise with ten different unique cysteine mutants of subunit c′. Strong cross-linking was observed for the pairs aS728C/c′I142C, aA731C/c′E145C, aA738C/c′F143C, aA738C/c′L147C, and aL739C/c′L147C. Partial cross-linking was observed for an additional 13 of 40 pairs analyzed. When arrayed on a helical wheel diagram, the results suggest that the helical face of TM7 of subunit a containing Arg-735 interacts with the helical face of TM4 of subunit c′ centered on Val-146 and bounded by Glu-145 and Leu-147. The results are consistent with a possible rotational flexibility of one or both of these transmembrane segments as well as some flexibility of movement perpendicular to the membrane.