RESUMEN
Membrane transport P-type ATPases display two characteristic enzymatic activities: a principal ATPase activity provides the driving force for ion transport across biological membranes, whereas a promiscuous secondary activity catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphate monoesters. This last activity is usually denoted as the phosphatase activity of P-ATPases. In the present study, we characterize the phosphatase activity of the Cu(+)-transport ATPase from Archaeglobus fulgidus (Af-CopA) and compare it with the principal ATPase activity. Our results show that the phosphatase turnover number was 20 times higher than that corresponding to the ATPase activity, but it is compensated by a high value of Km, producing a less efficient catalysis for pNPP. This secondary activity is enhanced by Mg(2+) (essential activator) and phospholipids (non-essential activator), and inhibited by salts and Cu(+). Transition state analysis of the catalyzed and noncatalyzed hydrolysis of pNPP indicates that Af-CopA enhances the reaction rates by a factor of 10(5) (ΔΔG()=38 kJ/mol) mainly by reducing the enthalpy of activation (ΔΔH()=30 kJ/mol), whereas the entropy of activation is less negative on the enzyme than in solution. For the ATPase activity, the decrease in the enthalpic component of the barrier is higher (ΔΔH()=39 kJ/mol) and the entropic component is small on both the enzyme and in solution. These results suggest that different mechanisms are involved in the transference of the phosphoryl group of p-nitrophenyl phosphate and ATP.
Asunto(s)
Adenosina Trifosfatasas/química , Adenosina Trifosfato/química , Proteínas Arqueales/química , Archaeoglobus fulgidus/química , Cobre/química , Monoéster Fosfórico Hidrolasas/química , Adenosina Trifosfatasas/genética , Adenosina Trifosfatasas/metabolismo , Adenosina Trifosfato/metabolismo , Proteínas Arqueales/genética , Proteínas Arqueales/metabolismo , Archaeoglobus fulgidus/enzimología , Biocatálisis , Dominio Catalítico , Cationes Bivalentes , Clonación Molecular , Escherichia coli/genética , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Expresión Génica , Calor , Cinética , Magnesio/química , Modelos Moleculares , Nitrofenoles/química , Compuestos Organofosforados/química , Fosfolípidos/química , Monoéster Fosfórico Hidrolasas/genética , Monoéster Fosfórico Hidrolasas/metabolismo , Proteínas Recombinantes/química , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/metabolismo , Especificidad por Sustrato , TermodinámicaRESUMEN
Folding mechanisms and stability of membrane proteins are poorly understood because of the known difficulties in finding experimental conditions under which reversible denaturation could be possible. In this work, we describe the equilibrium unfolding of Archaeoglobus fulgidus CopA, an 804-residue alpha-helical membrane protein that is involved in transporting Cu(+) throughout biological membranes. The incubation of CopA reconstituted in phospholipid/detergent mixed micelles with high concentrations of guanidinium hydrochloride induced a reversible decrease in fluorescence quantum yield, far-UV ellipticity, and loss of ATPase and phosphatase activities. Refolding of CopA from this unfolded state led to recovery of full biological activity and all the structural features of the native enzyme. CopA unfolding showed typical characteristics of a two-state process, with DeltaG(w) degrees =12.9 kJ mol(-)(1), m=4.1 kJ mol(-1) M(-1), C(m)=3 M, and DeltaCp(w) degrees =0.93 kJ mol(-1) K(-1). These results point out to a fine-tuning mechanism for improving protein stability. Circular dichroism spectroscopic analysis of the unfolded state shows that most of the secondary and tertiary structures were disrupted. The fraction of Trp fluorescence accessible to soluble quenchers shifted from 0.52 in the native state to 0.96 in the unfolded state, with a significant spectral redshift. Also, hydrophobic patches in CopA, mainly located in the transmembrane region, were disrupted as indicated by 1-anilino-naphtalene-8-sulfonate fluorescence. Nevertheless, the unfolded state had a small but detectable amount of residual structure, which might play a key role in both CopA folding and adaptation for working at high temperatures.