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In ion-transporting rotary ATPases, the mechanical rotation of inner rotor subunits against other stator subunits in the complex mediates conversion of chemical free energy from ATP hydrolysis into electrochemical potential by pumping ions across the cell membrane. To fully understand the rotational mechanism of energy conversion, it is essential to analyze a target sample by multiple advanced methods that differ in spatiotemporal resolutions and sample environments. Here, we describe such a strategy applied to the water-soluble V 1 moiety of Enterococcus hirae V-ATPase; this strategy involves integration of crystal structure studies and single-molecule analysis of rotary dynamics and torque generation. In addition, we describe our current model of the chemo-mechanical coupling scheme obtained by this approach, as well as future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

V1-ATPase is a rotary molecular motor in which the mechanical rotation of the rotor DF subunits against the stator A3B3 ring is driven by the chemical free energy of ATP hydrolysis. Recently, using X-ray crystallography, we solved the high-resolution molecular structure of Enterococcus hirae V1-ATPase (EhV1) and revealed how the three catalytic sites in the stator A3B3 ring change their structure on nucleotide binding and interaction with the rotor DF subunits. Furthermore, recently, we also demonstrated directly the rotary catalysis of EhV1 by using single-molecule high-speed imaging and analyzed the properties of the rotary motion in detail. In this critical review, we introduce the molecular structure and rotary dynamics of EhV1 and discuss a possible model of its chemomechanical coupling scheme. © 2014 IUBMB Life, 66(9):624-630, 2014 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ring-shaped nucleoside triphosphatases (ring NTPases) are biological molecular machines powered by energy from NTP hydrolysis and are responsible for various cellular activities. These ring NTPases translocate their substrates or rotate their own subunits to/in the hole of the ring. Coordination and cooperativity among subunits in the oligomer ring is a topic of debate focused on understanding the operation mechanism of these protein machines. With the help of X-ray crystallographic structural analysis and optical microscopic single-molecules studies, distinct models, including stochastic, concerted, and rotary catalysis have been proposed. Here, we discuss these models and introduce high-speed atomic force microscopy as a new potent tool for verification of the model, with our recent example of the rotary catalysis of the stator ring of F1-adenosine triphosphatase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: F1-ATPase is a rotary motor protein in which 3 catalytic β-subunits in a stator α3β3 ring undergo unidirectional and cooperative conformational changes to rotate the rotor γ-subunit upon adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis. The prevailing view of the mechanism behind this rotary catalysis elevated the γ-subunit as a “dictator” completely controlling the chemical and conformational states of the 3 catalytic β-subunits. However, our recent observations using high-speed atomic force microscopy clearly revealed that the 3 β-subunits undergo cyclic conformational changes even in the absence of the rotor γ-subunit, thus dethroning it from its dictatorial position. Here, we introduce our results in detail and discuss the possible operating principle behind the F1-ATPase, along with structurally related hexameric ATPases, also mentioning the possibility of generating hybrid nanomotors. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: 17th European Bioenergetics Conference (EBEC 2012). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

F-ATPase is a molecular motor in which the γ subunit rotates inside the αβ ring upon adenosine triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis. Recent works on single-molecule manipulation of F-ATPase have shown that kinetic parameters such as the on-rate of ATP and the off-rate of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) strongly depend on the rotary angle of the γ subunit (Hirono-Hara et al. ; Iko et al. ). These findings provide important insight into how individual reaction steps release energy to power F and also have implications regarding ATP synthesis and how reaction steps are reversed upon reverse rotation. An important issue regarding the angular dependence of kinetic parameters is that the angular position of a magnetic bead rotation probe could be larger than the actual position of the γ subunit due to the torsional elasticity of the system. In the present study, we assessed the stiffness of two different portions of F from thermophilic Bacillus PS3: the internal part of the γ subunit embedded in the αβ ring, and the complex of the external part of the γ subunit and the αβ ring (and streptavidin and magnetic bead), by comparing rotational fluctuations before and after crosslinkage between the rotor and stator. The torsional stiffnesses of the internal and remaining parts were determined to be around 223 and 73 pNnm/radian, respectively. Based on these values, it was estimated that the actual angular position of the internal part of the γ subunit is one-fourth of the magnetic bead position upon stalling using an external magnetic field. The estimated elasticity also partially explains the accommodation of the intrinsic step size mismatch between F and F-ATPase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

F1-ATPase (F1), a soluble portion of F0F1-ATP synthase (F0F1), is an ATP-driven motor in which γϵ subunits rotate in the α3β3 cylinder. Activity of F1 and F0F1 from Bacillus PS3 is attenuated by the ϵ subunit in an inhibitory extended form. In this study we observed AT P-dependent transition of ϵ in single F1 molecules from extended form to hairpin form by fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The results justify the previous bulk experiments and ensure that fraction of F1 with hairpin ϵ directly determines the fraction of active F1 at any ATP concentration. Next, mechanical activation and stiffness of ϵ-inhibited F1 were examined by the forced rotation of magnetic beads attached to 7. Compared with ADP inhibition, which is another manner of inhibition, rotation by a larger angle was required for the activation from ϵ inhibition when the beads were forced to rotate to ATP hydrolysis direction, and more torque was required to reach the same rotation angle when beads were forced to rotate to ATP synthesis direction. The results imply that if F0F1 is resting in the ϵ-inhibited state, F0 motor must transmit to γ a torque larger than expected from thermodynamic equilibrium to initiate ATP synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) is the major energy currency of cells and is involved in many cellular processes. However, there is no method for real-time monitoring of ATP levels inside individual living cells. To visualize ATP levels, we generated a series of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based indicators for ATP that were composed of the e subunit of the bacterial F0F1-ATP synthase sandwiched by the cyan- and yellow-fluorescent proteins. The indicators, named ATeams, had apparent dissociation constants for ATP ranging from 7.4 μM to 3.3 mM. By targeting ATeams to different subcellular compartments, we unexpectedly found that ATP levels in the mitochondrial matrix of HeLa cells are significantly lower than those of cytoplasm and nucleus. We also succeeded in measuring changes in the ATP level inside single HeLa cells after treatment with inhibitors of glycolysis and/or oxidative phosphorylation. revealing that glycolysis is the major ATP-generating pathway of the cells grown in glucose-rich medium. This was also confirmed by an experiment using oligomycin A, an inhibitor of F0F1-ATP synthase. In addition, it was demonstrated that HeLa cells change ATP-generating pathway in response to changes of nutrition in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TheE subunit of bacterial F[sub0]F[sub1]-ATP synthase (F[sub0]F[sub1]), a rotary motor protein, is known to inhibit the ATP hydrolysis reaction of this enzyme. The inhibitory effect is modulated by the conformation of the C-terminal α-helices of ϵ, and the "extended" but not "hairpin-folded" state is responsible for inhibition. Although the inhibition of ATP hydrolysis by the C-terminal domain of ϵ has been extensively studied, the effect on ATP synthesis is not fully understood. In this study, we generated an Escherichia coli F[sub0]F[sub1] (EF[sub0]F[sub1]) mutant in which the &3x20AC; subunit lacked the C-terminal domain (F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵΔC]), and ATP synthesis driven by acid-base transition (ΔpH) and the K[sup+]-valinomycin diffusion potential (ΔΨ) was compared in detail with that of the wild-type enzyme (F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵWT]). The turnover numbers (kcat) of F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵWT] were severalfold lower than those of F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵΔC]. F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵWT] showed higher Michaelis constants (K,,). The dependence of the activities of F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵWT] and F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵΔC] on various combinations of ΔpH and ΔΨ was similar, suggesting that the rate-limiting step in ATP synthesis was unaltered by the C-terminal domain of ϵ. Solubilized F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵWT] also showed lower kcat and higher Km values for ATP hydrolysis than the corresponding values of F[sub0]F[sub1][supϵΔC]. These results suggest that the C-terminal domain of the ϵ subunit of EF[sub0]F[sub1] slows multiple elementary steps in both the ATP synthesis/hydrolysis reactions by restricting the rotation of the γ subunit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

F1-ATPase is a rotary molecular motor driven by ATP hydrolysis that rotates the γ-subunit against the α3β3 ring. The crystal structures of F1, which provide the structural basis for the catalysis mechanism, have shown essentially 1 stable conformational state. In contrast, single-molecule studies have revealed that F1 has 2 stable conformational states: ATP-binding dwell state and catalytic dwell state. Although structural and single-molecule studies are crucial for the understanding of the molecular mechanism of F1, it remains unclear as to which catalytic state the crystal structure represents. To address this issue, we introduced cysteine residues at βE391 and γR84 of F1 from thermophilic Bacillus PS3. In the crystal structures of the mitochondrial F1, the corresponding residues in the ADP-bound β (βDP) and γ were in direct contact. The βE190D mutation was additionally introduced into the β to slow ATP hydrolysis. By incorporating a single copy of the mutant β-subunit, the chimera F1, α3β2β(E190D/E391 C)β(R84C), was prepared. In single-molecule rotation assay, chimera F1 showed a catalytic dwell pause in every turn because of the slowed ATP hydrolysis of β(E190D/E391C). When the mutant β and γ were cross-linked through a disulfide bond between βE391C and γR84C, F1 paused the rotation at the catalytic dwell angle of β(E190D/E391C), indicating that the crystal structure represents the catalytic dwell state and that βDP is the catalytically active form. The former point was again confirmed in experiments where F1 rotation was inhibited by adenosine-5'- (β,γ-imino)-triphosphate and/or azide, the most commonly used inhibitors for the crystallization of F1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crystal structure of subunit F of vacuole-type ATPase/synthase (prokaryotic V-ATPase) was determined to of 2.2 Å resolution. The subunit reveals unexpected structural similarity to the response regulator proteins that include the Escherichia coli chemotaxis response regulator CheY. The structure was successfully placed into the low-resolution EM structure of the prokaryotic holo-V-ATPase at a location indicated by the results of crosslinking experiments. The crystal structure, together with the single-molecule analysis using fluorescence resonance energy transfer, showed that the subunit F exhibits two conformations, a ‘retracted’ form in the absence and an ‘extended’ form in the presence of ATP. Our results postulated that the subunit F is a regulatory subunit in the V-ATPase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

F1-ATPase (F1) is an ATP-driven rotary motor wherein the γ subunit rotates against the surrounding α3β3 stator ring. The 3 catalytic sites of F1 reside on the interface of the α and β subunits of the α3β3 ring. While the catalytic residues predominantly reside on the β subunit, the α subunit has 1 catalytically critical arginine, termed the arginine finger, with stereogeometric similarities with the arginine finger of G-protein-activating proteins. However, the principal role of the arginine finger of F1 remains controversial.Westudied the role of the arginine finger by analyzing the rotation of a mutant F1 with a lysine substitution of the arginine finger. The mutant showed a 350-fold longer catalytic pause than the wild-type; this pause was further lengthened by the slowly hydrolyzed ATP analog ATPγS. On the other hand, the mutant F1 showed highly unidirectional rotation with a coupling ratio of 3 ATPs/turn, the same as wild-type, suggesting that cooperative torque generation by the 3 β subunits was not impaired. The hybrid F1 carrying a single copy of the β mutant revealed that the reaction step slowed by the mutation occurs at +200° from the binding angle of the mutant subunit. Thus, the principal role of the arginine finger is not to mediate cooperativity among the catalytic sites, but to enhance the rate of the ATP cleavage by stabilizing the transition state of ATP hydrolysis. Lysine substitution also caused frequent pauses because of severe ADP inhibition, and a slight decrease in ATPbinding rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ∈ subunit in F[sub 0]F[sub 1]-ATPase/synthase undergoes drastic conformational rearrangement, which involves the transition of two C-terminal helices between a hairpin "down"-state and an extended "up"-state, and the enzyme with the up-fixed ∈ cannot catalyze ATP hydrolysis but can catalyze ATP synthesis (Tsunoda, S. P., Rodgers, A. J. W., Aggeler, R., Wilce, M. C. J., Yoshida, M., and Capaldi, R. A. (2001) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 98, 6560-6564). Here, using cross-linking between introduced cysteine residues as a probe, we have investigated the causes of the transition. Our findings are as follows. (i) In the up-state, the two helices of ∈ are fully extended to insert the C terminus into a deeper position in the central cavity of F[sub 1] than was thought previously. (ii) Without a nucleotide, ∈ is in the up-state. ATP induces the transition to the down-state, and ADP counteracts the action of ATP. (iii) Conversely, the enzyme with the down-state ∈ can bind an ATP analogue, 2',3'O-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)-ATP, much faster than the enzyme with the up-state ∈. (iv) Proton motive force stabilizes the up-state. Thus, responding to the increase of proton motive force and ADP, F[sub 0]F[sub 1]-ATPase/synthase would transform the ∈ subunit into the up-state conformation and change gear to the mode for ATP synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]