Role of water in processes of energy transduction: Ca2+-transport ATPase and inorganic pyrophosphatase.

After the proposal of the chemiosmotic theory by Mitchell (1966, 1979) it has been recognized that different membrane-bound enzymes are able to use the energy derived from ionic gradients for the synthesis of ATP. These include the F1-ATPases of mitochondria and chloroplasts, the Ca2+-dependent ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum and the (Na+,K+)-ATPase of plasma membrane. In these systems the process of energy transduction is fully reversible. The enzyme can use the energy derived from the hydrolysis of ATP to build up a concentration gradient of ions across the membrane and, in the reverse process, use the energy derived from the gradient to synthesize ATP. Another interesting system in which these forms of energy are interconverted is found in photosynthetic bacteria. In chromatophores of Rhodospirillum rubrum there is a membrane-bound pyrophosphatase that, like the transport ATPases, catalyses the synthesis of pyrophosphate from Pi when a light-dependent proton gradient is formed across the chromatophore membrane. Like F1-ATPase, this enzyme is also able to generate an electrochemical potential gradient of protons at the expense of pyrophosphate hydrolysis. The mechanism by which the energy derived from a gradient is used by membrane-bound enzymes to catalyse the synthesis of high-energy phosphate compounds is still far from understood. Among the different enzymes studied, Ca2+-dependent ATPase is probably the system in which most is known about the mechanism of energy transduction. We now know of experimental conditions which allow us to move the different intermediary steps of the catalytic cycle of the enzyme in the direction of ATP synthesis. Thus, ATP synthesis can be attained after a single catalytic cycle in the absence of a transmembrane Ca2+ gradient. The net synthesis of ATP can be promoted by a variety of perturbations, including Ca2+, pH and water activity. These experiments indicate that during the catalytic cycle different forms of energy are interconverted by the Ca2+-dependent ATPase. The ultimate step of the cycle seems to be a change of water activity within the catalytic site of the ATPase. A common feature of all membrane-bound enzymes mentioned above is that during the catalytic cycle there are steps in which the hydrolysis of a phosphate compound (ATP, pyrophosphate or an acyl phosphate residue) is accompanied by only a small change in free energy. In conditions similar to those found in the cytosol, the hydrolysis of these phosphate compounds is accompanied by a much larger change in free energy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)