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The structure of the dimeric ATP synthase from bovine mitochondria determined in three rotational states by electron cryo-microscopy provides evidence that the proton uptake from the mitochondrial matrix via the proton inlet half channel proceeds via a Grotthus mechanism, and a similar mechanism may operate in the exit half channel. It has given new information about the structure and mechanical constitution and properties of the peripheral stalk, part of the membrane extrinsic region of the stator, and how the action of the peripheral stalk damps the side-to side rocking motions that occur in the enzyme complex during the catalytic cycle. It also describes wedge structures in the membrane domains of each monomer, where the skeleton of each wedge is provided by three α-helices in the membrane domains of the b-subunit to which the supernumerary subunits e, f and g and the membrane domain of subunit A6L are bound. Protein voids in the wedge are filled by three specifically bound cardiolipin molecules and two other phospholipids. The external surfaces of the wedges link the monomeric complexes together into the dimeric structures, and provide a pivot to allow the monomer-monomer interfaces to change during catalysis, and to accommodate other changes not related directly to catalysis in the monomer-monomer interface that occur in mitochondrial cristae. The structure of the bovine dimer also demonstrates that the structures of dimeric ATP synthases in a tetrameric porcine enzyme have been seriously misinterpreted in the membrane domains.

The crystal structure of the F 1 -catalytic domain of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase has been determined from the pathogenic anaerobic bacterium Fusobacterium nucleatum . The enzyme can hydrolyse ATP but is partially inhibited. The structure is similar to those of the F 1 -ATPases from Caldalkalibacillus thermarum , which is more strongly inhibited in ATP hydrolysis, and in Mycobacterium smegmatis , which has a very low ATP hydrolytic activity. The β E -subunits in all three enzymes are in the conventional ‘open’ state, and in the case of C. thermarum and M. smegmatis , they are occupied by an ADP and phosphate (or sulfate), but in F. nucleatum , the occupancy by ADP appears to be partial. It is likely that the hydrolytic activity of the F. nucleatum enzyme is regulated by the concentration of ADP, as in mitochondria.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the chemical energy currency of biology, is synthesized in eukaryotic cells primarily by the mitochondrial ATP synthase. ATP synthases operate by a rotary catalytic mechanism where proton translocation through the membrane-inserted FO region is coupled to ATP synthesis in the catalytic F1 region via rotation of a central rotor subcomplex. We report here single particle electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) analysis of the bovine mitochondrial ATP synthase. Combining cryo-EM data with bioinformatic analysis allowed us to determine the fold of the a subunit, suggesting a proton translocation path through the FO region that involves both the a and b subunits. 3D classification of images revealed seven distinct states of the enzyme that show different modes of bending and twisting in the intact ATP synthase. Rotational fluctuations of the c8-ring within the FO region support a Brownian ratchet mechanism for proton-translocation-driven rotation in ATP synthases. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10180.001, eLife digest A molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the energy currency in cells. Most of the ATP used by cells is made by the membrane-embedded enzyme ATP synthase. This enzyme is found in membranes inside specialized compartments known as mitochondria. ATP synthase is made up of many protein subunits that work together as a molecular machine. Hydrogen ions flow across the membrane through the ATP synthase, turning a rotor structure within the enzyme, which leads to the production of ATP. It is not known how the transport of hydrogen ions causes rotation of the rotor. Some researchers have proposed that the enzyme works as a ratchet that is driven by the random Brownian motion of the rotor. That is, the rotational position of the rotor fluctuates randomly, but a ratchet mechanism ensures that there is a net rotation in one direction. However, there is currently little experimental evidence to back up this theory, which is known as the Brownian ratchet model. Zhou, Rohou et al. used a technique called electron cryomicroscopy (or cryo-EM) to study ATP synthase from cows. The cryo-EM data made it possible to use computer software to construct a three-dimensional model of the enzyme that is more detailed than previous attempts. Zhou, Rohou et al. show that the structure of ATP synthase is flexible, with the different protein subunits bending, flexing, and rotating relative to each other. This variability in the position of the rotor is consistent with the Brownian ratchet model. Together, these findings reveal important new details about the structure of ATP synthase and provide some of the first experimental evidence for the Brownian ratchet model. The new three-dimensional structure of ATP synthase will open the door to testing hypotheses of how the ATP synthase works. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10180.002

The rotation of the central stalk of F 1 -ATPase is driven by energy derived from the sequential binding of an ATP molecule to its three catalytic sites and the release of the products of hydrolysis. In human F 1 -ATPase, each 360° rotation consists of three 120° steps composed of substeps of about 65°, 25°, and 30°, with intervening ATP binding, phosphate release, and catalytic dwells, respectively. The F 1 -ATPase inhibitor protein, IF 1 , halts the rotary cycle at the catalytic dwell. The human and bovine enzymes are essentially identical, and the structure of bovine F 1 -ATPase inhibited by IF 1 represents the catalytic dwell state. Another structure, described here, of bovine F 1 -ATPase inhibited by an ATP analog and the phosphate analog, thiophosphate, represents the phosphate binding dwell. Thiophosphate is bound to a site in the α E β E -catalytic interface, whereas in F 1 -ATPase inhibited with IF 1 , the equivalent site is changed subtly and the enzyme is incapable of binding thiophosphate. These two structures provide a molecular mechanism of how phosphate release generates a rotary substep as follows. In the active enzyme, phosphate release from the β E -subunit is accompanied by a rearrangement of the structure of its binding site that prevents released phosphate from rebinding. The associated extrusion of a loop in the β E -subunit disrupts interactions in the α E β E -catalytic interface and opens it to its fullest extent. Other rearrangements disrupt interactions between the γ-subunit and the C-terminal domain of the α E -subunit. To restore most of these interactions, and to make compensatory new ones, the γ-subunit rotates through 25°–30°.

The mitochondrial F 1 -ATPase inhibitor protein, IF 1 , inhibits the hydrolytic, but not the synthetic activity of the F-ATP synthase, and requires the hydrolysis of ATP to form the inhibited complex. In this complex, the α-helical inhibitory region of the bound IF 1 occupies a deep cleft in one of the three catalytic interfaces of the enzyme. Its N-terminal region penetrates into the central aqueous cavity of the enzyme and interacts with the γ-subunit in the enzyme's rotor. The intricacy of forming this complex and the binding mode of the inhibitor endow IF 1 with high specificity. This property has been exploited in the development of a highly selective affinity procedure for purifying the intact F-ATP synthase complex from mitochondria in a single chromatographic step by using inhibitor proteins with a C-terminal affinity tag. The inhibited complex was recovered with residues 1–60 of bovine IF 1 with a C-terminal green fluorescent protein followed by a His-tag, and the active enzyme with the same inhibitor with a C-terminal glutathione- S -transferase domain. The wide applicability of the procedure has been demonstrated by purifying the enzyme complex from bovine, ovine, porcine and yeast mitochondria. The subunit compositions of these complexes have been characterized. The catalytic properties of the bovine enzyme have been studied in detail. Its hydrolytic activity is sensitive to inhibition by oligomycin, and the enzyme is capable of synthesizing ATP in vesicles in which the proton-motive force is generated from light by bacteriorhodopsin. The coupled enzyme has been compared by limited trypsinolysis with uncoupled enzyme prepared by affinity chromatography. In the uncoupled enzyme, subunits of the enzyme's stator are degraded more rapidly than in the coupled enzyme, indicating that uncoupling involves significant structural changes in the stator region.