Intramolecular cross-linking of domains at the active site links A1 and B subfragments of the Ca2+-ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum.

Glutaraldehyde treatment of sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles results in formation of cross-linked Ca2+-ATPase oligomers. Under limiting reaction conditions, where minimal interpolypeptide cross-linking occurs, hydrodynamic properties of the monomer are altered, such that, on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis, the enzyme migrates with an apparent molecular weight of 125,000 (E(125], as compared to the native enzyme (E(110]. The E(125) species was also formed following reaction with other cross-linking bis-aldehydes, with formaldehyde and with a bissuccinimidyl ester. Derivitization resulted in inactivation of ATPase activity and of phosphoprotein formation from Pi. E(125) formation was inhibited by ATP, ADP, AMPPCP, and orthovanadate, and by specific modification of active site Lys-514 with fluorescein-5'-isothiocyanate. Tryptic cleavage patterns of the glutaraldehyde-modified enzyme were consistent with covalent linkage of A1 and B fragments that have been postulated to comprise the phosphorylation and nucleotide-binding domains (MacLennan, D. H., Brandt, C. J., Korczak, B., and Green, N. M. (1985) Nature 316, 696-700). The denaturing detergent, sodium dodecyl sulfate, prevented cross-link formation. Interdomain cross-linking was inhibited by prior modification with either 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonate, phenylglyoxal, or pyridoxal-5'-phosphate but was unaffected by thiol group modification with iodoacetate or N-ethylmaleimide, suggesting involvement of lysine residues. These findings indicate that intramolecular cross-linking at the active site of the Ca2+-ATPase involves phosphorylation- and ATP-binding domains that are widely separated in the linear sequence.