N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide binds specifically to a single glutamyl residue of the proteolipid subunit of the mitochondrial adenosinetriphosphatases from Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-binding proteolipid subunit of the mitochondrial adenosinetriphosphatases (ATP phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.3) of Neurospora crassa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were purified from mitochondria incubated with the radioactively labeled inhibitor. The specifically labeled subunit was cleaved with cyanogen bromide and N-bromosuccinimide, and the resultant fragments were separated by gel chromatography in the presence of 80% (vol/vol) formic acid. The N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide label was recovered in each organism exclusively in a 17-residue fragment. Further analysis by automated solid-phase Edman degradation revealed that the bound label was present at only one position, corresponding to a glutamyl residue. The N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-modified glutamyl residue is the only identical acidic position in both proteins and occurs in the middle of a hydrophobic sequence of about 25 residues.