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Adenylylcyclase activity in the flagella of gametes of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was inhibited by prior incubation at or below 30 degrees C in the presence of ATP. This decrease did not occur in the absence of ATP, in the presence of the ATP analog 5'-adenylylimidodiphosphate (App(NH)p), or in the presence of ATP plus the protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine (2 microM). If ATP treatment was performed in the absence of an ATP-regenerating system, activity initially declined and subsequently recovered. Incubation of flagella at 45 degrees C in the absence of ATP or incubation at lower temperatures in the presence of either App(NH)p or staurosporine both increased adenylylcyclase activity (over 10-fold) and blocked subsequent ATP-dependent loss of activity at 30 degrees C. This heat-induced activation was prevented by the presence of ATP plus an ATP-regenerating system. Incubation of flagella with [gamma-32P]ATP followed by gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate indicated the presence of endogenous protein kinase and protein phosphatase activities. These data suggest that the flagellar adenylylcyclase in Chlamydomonas gametes is inhibited by phosphorylation and stimulated by dephosphorylation. This mechanism for regulating adenylylcyclase may underlie the rapid increase in cyclic AMP that is induced by flagellar adhesion during fertilization in Chlamydomonas.

A procedure for the functional reconstitution of beta-adrenergic receptors and the stimulatory guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G/F) of adenylate cyclase in phospholipid vesicles is described. beta-Adrenergic receptors were solubilized from turkey erythrocyte plasma membranes and reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles by the addition of dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine and removal of detergent by gel filtration. This procedure restored the ability to bind [125I]iodohydroxybenzylpindolol and [3H]dihydroalprenolol. Purified rabbit hepatic G/F that was added to the receptor vesicles could be stably activated by guanosine 5'-[3-thio]triphosphate at a low rate, and this activation was increased up to 4-fold in the presence of beta-adrenergic agonists. This stimulation of the activation of G/F was specific for beta-adrenergic agonists and could be specifically blocked by beta-adrenergic antagonists. Stimulation was proportional to the concentration of vesicles containing active beta-adrenergic receptor. Under optimal conditions, 5 to 6 molecules of G/F were activated per receptor, indicating that catalytic activation of G/F by receptor was reconstituted.

beta-Adrenergic receptors and the inhibitory GTP-binding protein, Gi of the adenylate cyclase system were reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles by the method described previously for reconstituting receptors and the stimulatory GTP-binding protein, Gs (Brandt, D. R., Asano, T., Pedersen, S. E., and Ross, E. M. (1983) Biochemistry 22, 4357-4362). In the receptor-Gi vesicles, beta-adrenergic agonists stimulated both the high-affinity binding of guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTP gamma S) to Gi and GTPase activity to an extent similar to that observed in vesicles containing beta-adrenergic receptors and Gs. Stimulation required receptors and displayed appropriate beta-adrenergic specificity. The prior treatment of receptor-Gi vesicles with islet-activating protein (pertussis toxin) plus NAD markedly inhibited both the isoproterenol-stimulated binding of GTP gamma S and the isoproterenol-stimulated GTPase activity. No contamination of Gi by Gs was apparent. These data suggest that receptors that typically stimulate adenylate cyclase activity may also activate the inhibitory system, perhaps as one mechanism of desensitization.

Adenylate cyclase activity in a Lubrol 12A9 extract of wild type S49 lymphoma plasma membranes is completely inactivated by incubation at 37 degrees for 20 min. Activity is restored by mixing this heated extract of wild type membranes with an unheated detergent extract of membranes from a variant clone that lacks measureable adenylate cyclase activity (AC-). The factor(s) donated by the AC- extract is labile to heating at 30 degrees (t1/2 = 3 min) or to treatment with N-ethylmaleimide or trypsin. The factor(s) donated by the heated wild type extract is also sensitive to proteases or N-ethylmaleimide. This extract displays more complex inactivation kinetics at 50 degrees, consistent with the existence of separate factors necessary for the stimulatory effects of NaF and guanyl-5'-yl-imidodiphosphate. We suggest that at least two proteins are necessary for adenylate cyclase activity and that one of these is retained in the phenotypically adenylate cyclase-deficient variant.

beta-Adrenergic receptors were partially purified from turkey erythrocyte membranes by alprenolol-agarose chromatography to 0.25-2 nmol/mg of protein, and the stimulatory guanosine 5'-triphosphate (GTP) binding protein of adenylate cyclase (Gs) was purified from rabbit liver. These proteins were reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles by addition of phospholipids and removal of detergent by gel filtration. This preparation hydrolyzes GTP to guanosine 5'-diphosphate (GDP) plus inorganic phosphate (Pi) in response to beta-adrenergic agonists. The initial rate of isoproterenol-stimulated hydrolysis is approximately 1 mol of GTP hydrolyzed min-1 X mol-1 of Gs. This low rate may be limited by the hormone-stimulated binding of substrate, since it is roughly equal to the rate of binding of the GTP analogue guanosine 5'-O-(3-[35S] thiotriphosphate) [( 35S]GTP gamma S) to Gs in the vesicles. Activity in the absence of agonist, or in the presence of agonist plus a beta-adrenergic antagonist, is 8-25% of the hormone-stimulated activity. Guanosinetriphosphatase (GTPase) is not saturated at 10 microM GTP, and the response to GTP is formally consistent either with the existence of multiple Km's or of a separate stimulatory site for GTP. The GTPase activity of Gs in vesicles is also stimulated by 50 mM MgCl2 in the presence or absence of receptor. Significant GTPase activity is not observed with Lubrol-solubilized Gs, although [35S]-GTP gamma S binding is increased by Lubrol solubilization.

Both the catalytic protein (C) and the guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory protein (G/F) of rabbit hepatic adenylate cyclase were solubilized in active form in sodium cholate at high ionic strength. Upon precipitation by (NH4)SO4, C was selectively aggregated such that it was largely excluded from Ultrogel AcA 34 when chromatographed in cholate solution at high ionic strength. G/F eluted with KD congruent to 0.5. Thus C can be completely resolved from G/F by this procedure. Rabbit hepatic C prepared in this way resembles the C activity previously described by us in the cyc- mutant of S49 lymphoma cells (Ross, E. M., Howlett, A. C., Ferguson, K. M., and Gilman, A. G. (1978) J. Biol. Chem. 253, 6401-6412). Similarities include 7- to 10-fold stimulation by Mn2+ relative to Mg2+ and a complete lack of sensitivity to fluoride or guanine nucleotides. Reconstitution of hepatic C with hepatic G/F causes restoration of stimulation up to 25-fold by either of these activators in the presence of Mg2+. While C is relatively unstable in cholate under these conditions, especially at temperatures over 4 degrees C, it is stabilized by removal of cholate and by addition of phospholipid. These procedures allow the study of the catalytic protein of adenylate cyclase from a hormone-responsive tissue in the absence of endogenous regulatory protein or membrane lipid and also provide a starting point for the purification of the catalyst.

Adenylate cyclase can be resolved into at least two proteins, a thermolabile, N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive component and a second protein (or proteins) that is more stable to either of these treatments. Neither component by itself catalyzes the formation of cyclic AMP using MgATP as substrate. However, mixture of the two reconstitutes MgATP-dependent fluoride- and guanyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate (Gpp(NH)p)-stimulatable adenylate cyclase activity. The more stable component can be resolved from the first in various tissues or cultured cells by treatment of membrnes or detergent extracts with heat or N-ethylmaleimide. The two proteins have also been resolved genetically in two clonal cell lines that are deficient in adenylate cyclase activity. An adenylate cyclase-deficient variant of the S49 lymphoma cell (AC-) contains only the thermolabile activity, while the activity of the more stable protein is found in a complementary hepatoma cell line (HC-1). In addition, AC-S49 cell plasma membranes contain MnATP-dependent adenylate cyclase activity. The protein that catalyzes this reaction appears to be the same as that which can combine with the thermostable component to reconstitute Mg2+-dependent enzyme activity because both activities co-fractionate by gel exclusion chromatography and sucrose density gradient centrifugation, both activities have identical denaturation kinetics at 30 degrees C, and both activities are stabilized at 30 degrees C and labilized at 0 degree C by various nucleotides and divalent cations with similar specificity. It is thus hypothesized that the thermolabile factor is the catalytic subunit of the physiological adenylate cyclase and that the Mn2+-dependent activity is a nonphysiological expression of the catalytic protein. The thermostable moiety of the enzyme, which is proposed to serve a regulatory function, appears to consist of two functional components, based upon differential thermal lability of its ability to reconstitute hormone-, NaF-, or Gpp(NH)p-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity. These components have not, however, been physically separated. The thermolabile and thermostable components can interact in detergent solution or in a suitable membrane. Mixing of the detergent-solubilized regulatory component with AC-membranes that contain only the catalytic protein and beta-adrenergic receptors reconstitutes catecholamine-stimulatable adenylate cyclase activity; however, addition of the catalytic protein to membranes that contain receptor and the regulatory component yields MgATP-dependent enzymatic activity that is unresponsive to hormone.

The GTPase activity of the stimulatory guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory protein (Gs) of hormone-sensitive adenylate cyclase was investigated using purified rabbit hepatic Gs and either [alpha-32P]- or [gamma-32P] GTP as substrate. The binding of [35S]guanosine 5'-O-(thiotriphosphate) (GTP gamma S) was used to quantitate the total concentration of Gs. 1) GTPase activity was a saturable function of the concentration of GTP, with Km = 0.3 microM. MgCl2 monotonically increased the activity. The maximum observed turnover number was about 1.5 min-1. 2) During steady-state hydrolysis, 20-40% of total Gs could be trapped as a Gs-GDP complex and 1-2% could be trapped as Gs-GTP. The hydrolysis of Gs-GTP to Gs-GDP occurred with t 1/2 less than or equal to 5 s at 30 degrees C and t 1/2 approximately 1 min at 0 degrees C. Hydrolysis of Gs-GTP was inhibited by 1.0 mM EDTA in the absence of added Mg2+. 3) The rate of formation of Gs-GDP and the initial GTPase rate varied in parallel as functions of the concentrations of either GTP or MgCl2 (above 0.1 mM Mg2+). The ratio of the rate of accumulation of Gs-GDP to the GTPase rate was constant at 0.3-0.4. 4) The rate of dissociation of assayable Gs-GDP was biphasic. The initial phase accounted for 60-80% of total assayable Gs-GDP and was characterized by a t 1/2 of about 1 min. 5) Lubrol 12A9 potently inhibited the GTPase reaction and the dissociation of Gs-GDP in parallel, and inhibition of product release may account for the inhibition of steady-state hydrolysis. 6) The beta and gamma subunits of Gs markedly inhibited the dissociation of GDP from Gs in contrast to their ability to stimulate the dissociation of GTP gamma S. 7) GDP, GTP gamma S, and guanyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate (Gpp(NH)p) competitively inhibited the accumulation of Gs-GDP. GTP gamma S and Gpp(NH)p inhibited the GTPase reaction noncompetitively, GDP displayed mixed inhibition, and Pi did not inhibit. These data are interpretable in terms of the coexistence of two specific mechanistic pathways for the overall GTPase reaction.

Both adenosine and the P site agent 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine (DDA) reversibly inhibit adenylate cyclase activity in two different preparations of the enzyme that lack the stimulatory guanine nucleotide-binding protein, G/F: plasma membranes from the cyc- variant of S49 lymphoma cells and the resolved catalytic component (C) from rabbit liver. P site agents do not compete with any of the activators of C (Mn2+, G/F, forskolin), nor do they diminish the potency of any activator of C. Rather, activation of C increases the effectiveness of P site agents and causes up to a 10,000-fold increase in the potency of DDA. The ability of G/F or forskolin to potentiate P site inhibition is also noted at concentrations much lower than those required for the stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity. These data are inconsistent with a simple two-state allosteric model for the regulation of the activity of C and demand the postulation of either a distinct, inhibited conformation of the enzyme or the existence of a dead-end complex with adenosine bound to the catalytic site.

The regulatory component (G/F) of adenylate cyclase [ATP pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizing), EC 4.6.1.1] from rabbit liver plasma membranes has been purified essentially to homogeneity. The purification was accomplished by three chromatographic procedures in sodium cholate-containing solutions, followed by three steps in Lubrol-containing solutions. The specific activity of G/F was enriched 2000-fold from extracts of membranes to 3-4 mumol x min-1 x mg-1 (reconstituted adenylate cyclase activity). Purified G/F reconstitutes guanine nucleotide-, fluoride-, and hormone-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity in the adenylate cyclase-deficient variant of S49 murine lymphoma cells. G/F also recouples hormonal stimulation of the enzyme in the uncoupled variant of S49. Preparations of pure G/F contain three polypeptides with approximate molecular weights of 52,000, 45,000, and 35,000. The active G/F protein behaves as a multisubunit complex of these polypeptides. Treatment of G/F with [32P]NAD+ and cholera toxin covalently labels the molecular weight 52,000 and 45,000 polypeptides with 32P.

A novel variant of the S49 mouse lymphoma has been selected from wild-type cells by growth in medium containing the beta-adrenergic agonist terbutaline and inhibitors of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase. In contrast to the situation in the wild-type clone, synthesis of adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) is not stimulated by beta-adrenergic agonists or by prostaglandin E1 either in intact variant cells or in membrane preparations of such clones. However, basal and NaF-stimulated activities of adenylate cyclase [ATP pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizine), EC 4.6.1.1] are normal, enzyme activity is stimulated by guanyl-5'-yl imidodiphosphate [Gpp(NH)p], and intact cells accumulate cyclic AMP when exposed to cholera toxin. Furthermore, variant cell membranes possess ligand-binding activity consistent with the conclusion that a normal or an excessive number of beta-adrenergic receptors is present. Thus, interaction between the hormone-binding and the catalytic moieties of the adenylate cyclase system is lost. This variant phenotype, designated as uncoupled (UNC), has been stable for more than 100 generations without exposure to the drugs used for selection. Such cells should be useful for the elucidation of methanisms of transmission of information from hormone receptors to adenylate cyclase.

Adenylate cyclase can be resolved into at least two protein components, neither of which by itself catalyzes the formation of cyclic AMP with Mg-ATP as substrate. Mixture of the two reconstitutes Mg-ATP-dependent, fluoride- and Gpp(NH)p-stimulable activity. One, a heat-labile, N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive protein of molecular weight 190,000 can catalyze cyclic AMP formation with Mn-ATP as substrate, and is therefore proposed to be the catalytic moiety of the adenylate cyclase complex. The other protein (or proteins) is more resistant to heating or N-ethylmaleimide, and is proposed to confer upon the catalyst the ability to ultilize Mg-ATP as substrate. It is also required for the regulation of that activity by guanine nucleotides, hormones, and probably fluoride ion. The catalytic protein is found in a phenotypically adenylate cyclase-deficient (AC-) variant of S49 lymphoma cells. The thermostable regulatory protein can be resolved from the catalyst by heat treatment or N-ethylmaleimide treatment of plasma membranes of wild-type S49 cells, rat or rabbit liver, or avian erythrocytes, and is also found in a phenotypically adenylate cyclase-deficient hepatoma cell line. Mixture of AC- S49 membranes, which contain the beta-adrenergic receptor, with a crude detergent-solubilized preparation of the regulatory protein reconstitutes hormone-stimulable adenylate cyclase activity. Binding of the regulatory protein to the membranes is a time- and temperature-dependent process that requires an activating ligand of the adenylate cyclase system [fluoride, Gpp(NH)p].

Membranes of mouse L cells that contain adenylate cyclase [ATP pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizing), EC 4.6.1.1] but lack beta-adrenergic receptors have been solubilized with Lubrol 12A9. Addition of such adenylate cyclase-containing extracts to beta-adrenergic receptor-replete membranes from adenylate cyclase-deficient S49 lymphoma cells results in the production of a catecholamine-sensitive adenylate cyclase system. The effects of beta-adrenergic agonists and antagonists on the reconstituted system reproduce those that are characteristic of the wild-type S49 lymphoma cell. The uncoupled variant of the S49lymphoma contains adenylate cyclase, but donor extracts from this clone fail to reconstitute the hormone-sensitive enzyme activity when added to adenylate cyclase-deficient membranes. Thus, the uncoupled and adenylate cyclase-deficient variants of the S49 cell are not complementary.

beta-Adrenergic receptors, the GTP-binding regulatory protein that stimulates adenylate cyclase (Gs), and adenylate cyclase were each purified and reconstituted into unilamellar vesicles composed of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine (3:2, w/w). The molar ratio of receptor:Gs:adenylate cyclase was estimated to be about 1:10:1. Adenylate cyclase activity in the vesicles was stimulated up to 2.6-fold by beta-adrenergic agonists. Stimulation was dependent on the presence of guanine nucleotide, displayed appropriate beta-adrenergic selectivity and stereoselectivity for agonists, and was blocked appropriately by beta-adrenergic antagonists. Therefore, while additional proteins may modulate adenylate cyclase activity in native membranes, these results show that these three proteins are sufficient for the expression of hormone-stimulated adenylate cyclase.

The maturing rat reticulocyte was used as a model system in which to study developmental changes in the protein components of hormone-sensitive adenylate cyclase. Plasma membranes from rat erythrocytes display 10 to 20% of the adenylate cyclase activity and 30 to 50% of the beta-adrenergic receptors which are measured in membranes from rat reticulocytes, as noted by others. Reticulocyte membranes also display equal activities in response to (-)-isoproterenol in the presence of either GTP or GTP gamma S, whereas erythrocyte membrane adenylate cyclase is twice as active in the presence of isoproterenol plus GTP gamma S as in the presence of isoproterenol plus GTP. We have studied this system in greater detail by developing or applying independent assays for the catalytic protein (C) and the guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory protein (G/F) of adenylate cyclase. C was assayed in membranes by its intrinsic Mn2+-stimulated activity. It was also measured by reconstituting membranes with saturating amounts of GTP gamma S-activated G/F, yielding an operationally defined Vmax for the catalyst. By either assay, reticulocytes display about 3-fold greater C activity than do erythrocytes. G/F was assayed by its ability to confer GTP gamma S-stimulated activity upon C (which was supplied by membranes of cyc- S49 lymphoma cells). This assay indicates that reticulocyte membranes contain about 3 times as much G/F as do erythrocyte membranes. Cholera toxin and [32P]NAD were used to [32P]ADP-ribosylate the 45,000- and 52,000-dalton subunits of G/F. Total incorporation of 32P into these subunits decreased 3- to 4-fold with reticulocyte maturation. The ratio of label in the 52,000-dalton peptide to that in the 45,000-dalton peptide decreased from 0.29 in reticulocyte membranes to 0.14 in erythrocyte membranes. The apparently coordinate decrease in the amounts of C, G/F, and beta-adrenergic receptors suggest that the stoichiometry between these components is maintained during maturation, and may account for the decrease in adenylate cyclase in the membranes. However, the qualitative changes in responsiveness to hormones in the presence of GTP or GTP gamma S may be related to loss or proteolysis of the 52,000-dalton subunit of G/F.

The catalytic protein of rabbit hepatic adenylate cyclase, after chromatographic separation from the GTP-binding regulatory protein (G/F) (Ross, E. M. (1981) J. Biol. Chem. 256, 1949-1953), is essentially free of endogenous phospholipids. This preparation is active in the presence of Mn2+ and is markedly stimulated by forskolin, but it is stimulated only slightly by the addition of purified G/F plus an activator (GTP gamma S or NaF). The ability of activator-liganded G/F to stimulate the activity of the resolved catalyst is increased up to 8-fold by the addition of either dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (0.3-1.5 mM optimal concentration) or several other phosphatidylcholines. Phosphatidylcholine stabilizes the catalyst to denaturation but has little effect on its basal activity or on its stimulation by Mn2+ or forskolin. It also had no stimulating effect on the activation of G/F by GTP gamma S. These data are interpreted as showing that phosphatidylcholine promotes or is required for the stimulatory interaction of activator-liganded G/F with the catalytic protein of adenylate cyclase. Lubrol 12A9, Triton X-100, cholate, lysophosphatidylcholine, digitonin, and phosphatidylserine could not substitute for phosphatidylcholine. The detergents inhibited stimulation by liganded G/F even in the presence of phosphatidylcholine. Removal of cholate from a mixture of soluble catalytic protein and phosphatidylcholine by dialysis and sucrose density gradient centrifugation caused the binding of catalytic protein to large unilamellar vesicles. This preparation was further reconstituted with increasing amounts of G/F to yield vesicles with varied G/F:catalyst ratios and similarly varied responses to G/F-mediated activating ligands.