Further investigations on the inorganic phosphate binding site of beef heart mitochondrial F1-ATPase.

The possibility that 4-azido-2-nitrophenyl phosphate (ANPP), a photoreactive derivative of inorganic phosphate (Pi) [Lauquin, G., Pougeois, R., & Vignais, P. V. (1980) Biochemistry 19, 4620-4626], could mimic ATP was investigated. ANPP was hydrolyzed in the dark by sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase in the presence of Ca2+ but not in the presence of ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid. ANPP was not hydrolyzed by purified mitochondrial F1-ATPase; however, ADP and ATP protected F1-ATPase against ANPP photoinactivation. On the other hand, the trinitrophenyl nucleotide analogues (TNP-ADP, TNP-ATP, and TNP-AMP-PNP), which bind specifically at the two catalytic sites of F1-ATPase [Grubmeyer, C., & Penefsky, H. (1981) J. Biol. Chem. 256, 3718-3727], abolished Pi binding on F1-ATPase; they do not protect F1-ATPase against ANPP photoinactivation. Furthermore, ANPP-photoinactivated F1-ATPase binds the TNP analogues in the same way as the native enzyme. The Pi binding site of F1-ATPase, which is shown to be photolabeled by ANPP, does not appear to be at the gamma-phosphate position of the catalytic sites.