AMP promotes oxygen consumption and ATP synthesis in heart mitochondria through the adenylate kinase reaction: an NMR spectroscopy and polarography study

Adenylate kinase plays an important role in cellular energy homeostasis by catalysing the interconversion of adenine nucleotides. The goal of present study was to evaluate the contribution of the adenylate kinase reaction to oxidative ATP synthesis by direct measurements of ATP using 31P NMR spectroscopy. Results show that AMP can stimulate ATP synthesis in the presence or absence of ADP. In particular, addition of 1 mM AMP to the 0.6 mM ADP superfusion system of isolated superfused mitochondria (contained and maintained in agarose beads) led to a 25% increase in ATP synthesis as measured by the increase in βATP signal. More importantly, we show that AMP can support ATP synthesis in the absence of ADP, demonstrated as follows. Superfusion of mitochondria without ADP led to the disappearance of ATP γ, α and β signals and the increase of Pi. Addition of AMP to the medium restored the production of ATP, as demonstrated by the reappearance of γ, α and β ATP signals, in conjunction with a decrease in Pi, which is being used for ATP synthesis. Polarographic studies showed Mg2+ dependence of this process, confirming the specificity of the adenylate kinase reaction. Furthermore, data obtained from this study demonstrate, for the first time, that different aspects of the adenylate kinase reaction can be evaluated with 31P NMR spectroscopy. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.