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Schizosaccharomyces pombe yeast cells grown on either fermentable or respiratory media were efficiently converted to stable spheroplasts by the alpha-(1-->3)-glucanase Novozym 234 in the presence of 1.2 M sorbitol. Lysis of spheroplasts by gentle homogenization in dilute sorbitol resulted in the preparation of mitochondria with a structure similar to that observed within the starting yeast cells. The isolated mitochondria exhibited high oxidation rates with various respiratory substrates, NADH being the most efficient. The mitochondria appeared well coupled since the second State 4 rate observed after ADP consumption was identical to the initial one. The State 3 rate in the presence of ADP was completely inhibited by low oligomycin concentrations, similarly to the concomitant ATP synthesis of 900 nmol/min x mg protein. These NADH oxidation and dependent ATP-synthesis activities are much higher than those previously described for mitochondria isolated from Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and similar to the highest values reported for Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The segment R165-T330 of the alpha subunit of Schizosaccharomyces pombe F1-ATPase, corresponding to a putative nucleotide-binding domain by comparison with related nucleotide-binding proteins, has been overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Produced as a nonsoluble material, it was purified in a nonnative form, using a rapid procedure that includes one reversed-phase chromatography step. Refolding of the domain, called DN alpha 19, was achieved quantitatively by using a high-dilution step and monitored by circular dichroism and intrinsic fluorescence. Once folded, DN alpha 19 was highly soluble and stable. It bound 1 mol/mol either of adenine or guanine di- or triphosphate nucleotide, with a Kd ranging from 2.3 to 5.4 microM, or of methylanthraniloyl derivatives of the same nucleotides, with a Kd ranging from 0.2 to 0.6 microM. Interesting, DN alpha 19 was able to hydrolyze nucleoside triphosphates at a low but significant rate. The distance between one tryptophan residue located in the nucleotide-binding site and the ribose-linked methylanthraniloyl group of di- or triphosphate nucleotides was estimated by fluorescence resonance energy transfer to be 13 or 11 A, respectively, suggesting that the tryptophan is close to the polyphosphate moiety of the nucleotide. This tryptophan residue was tentatively assigned to W190 by a hydrophobic cluster comparison with the H-ras p21 protein, suggesting that the putative loop of DN alpha 19 containing W190 could play a functional role in nucleotide binding.

The intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of Schizosaccharomyces pombe mitochondrial F1 is a very sensitive probe to differentiate nucleotide binding to catalytic and noncatalytic sites (Divita, G., Di Pietro, A., Roux, B., and Gautheron, D. C. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 5791-5798), the catalytic site saturation producing quenching of Trp-257 fluorescence (Divita, G., Jault, J.-M., Gautheron, D. C., and Di Pietro, A. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 1017-1024). The present results indicate that two types of fluorescent nucleotide analogues, bearing either 2'(3')N-methylanthraniloyl (mant) or 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl) (TNP) group, exhibit high-affinity binding and behave similarly to the corresponding unmodified nucleotides. Selective binding of mant GDP to the catalytic site produces a marked quenching of intrinsic fluorescence which is due to resonance energy transfer between Trp-257 and the mant group. The high efficiency of the transfer allows the determination of a short distance, 10.5 A, indicating the close proximity of catalytic site and alpha-subunit Trp-257. Selective saturation of the noncatalytic site by TNP-ADP produces a marked quenching of the extrinsic fluorescence of mant GDP bound to the catalytic site, which is correlated to an important resonance energy transfer between the two fluorescent groups. A rather short distance of 17.5 A is calculated, indicating vicinity of catalytic and noncatalytic sites.

Chemical modification of mitochondrial F1-ATPase from Schizosaccharomyces pombe by the tryptophan-specific reagent N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) at pH 5.0 in the presence of 20% glycerol produced a characteristic lowering in both enzyme absorbance at 280 nm and intrinsic fluorescence at 332 nm that varied with NBS/F1 molar ratio up to a value of 130. Fluorometric titration of tryptophans and correlation to residual ATPase activity showed that modification of three reactive residues among the seven present on alpha- and epsilon-subunits did not markedly modify the enzyme activity but efficiently released endogenous ATP and abolished the fluorescence quenching related to GDP or ATP binding to the catalytic site. Additional modification of one, less reactive, tryptophan altered both negative cooperativity of ATP hydrolysis and sensitivity to azide inhibition and produced a nearly complete inactivation at high NBS/F1 molar ratio. NBS-induced inactivation of F1 was favored by catalytic-site saturation with GDP or low ATP concentration and on the contrary was prevented by noncatalytic-site saturation with ADP or high ATP concentration. When reactive tryptophans were selectively modified by NBS in the presence of ADP, and subunits were isolated after guanidine hydrochloride dissociation by one-step purification on reversed-phase HPLC, the absorbance of alpha-subunit at 280 nm was decreased, whereas that of epsilon-subunit was unchanged. Cyanogen bromide cleavage of alpha-subunit and fragments separation by reversed-phase HPLC showed that one peptide of 3 kDa apparent molecular mass had decreased absorbance. N-Terminal sequencing allowed its identification to fragment 255-282 that contains tryptophan257.

Mitochondrial F1 from the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe exhibits an intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence sensitive to adenine nucleotides and inorganic phosphate [Divita, G., Di Pietro, A., Deléage, G., Roux, B., & Gautheron, D.C. (1991) Biochemistry 30, 3256-3262]. The present results indicate that the intrinsic fluorescence is differentially modified by nucleotide binding to either catalytic or noncatalytic sites. Guanine or hypoxanthine nucleotides, which selectively bind to the catalytic site, produce a hyperbolic saturation monitored by fluorescence quenching at 332 nm, the maximal emission wavelength. On the contrary, adenine nucleotides, which bind to both catalytic and noncatalytic sites, exhibit a biphasic saturation. High-affinity ATP binding produces a marked quenching as opposed to the lower-affinity one. In contrast, ADP exhibits a sigmoidal saturation, with high-affinity binding producing no quenching but responsible for positive cooperativity of binding to the lower-affinity site. The catalytic-site affinity for GDP is almost 20-fold higher at pH 5.0 as compared to pH 9.0, and the high sensitivity of the method allows detection of the 10-fold lower-affinity GMP binding. In contrast, high-affinity binding of ADP, or AMP, is not pH-dependent. The selective catalytic-site saturation induces a F1 conformational change decreasing the Stern-Volmer constant for acrylamide and the tryptophan fraction accessible to iodide. ATP saturation of both catalytic and noncatalytic sites produces an additional reduction of the accessible fraction to acrylamide.

A large-scale purification procedure was developed to isolate the five subunits of F1-ATPase from pig heart mitochondria. The previously described procedure (Williams, N. and Pedersen, P.L. (1986) Methods Enzymol. 126, 484-489) to dissociate the rat liver F1-ATPase by cold treatment followed by warming at 37 degrees C has been adapted for the pig heart enzyme. Removal of endogenous nucleotides from that enzyme before dissociation led to the efficient separation of the alpha and gamma subunits from beta, delta and epsilon subunits. The beta subunit was purified in the hundred-milligram range by anion-exchange chromatography in the absence of any denaturing agent. This subunit was free from any bound nucleotide and almost no ATPase and adenylate kinase-like activities were detected. The delta and epsilon subunits were purified by reversed-phase chromatography (RP-HPLC) in the milligram range. As recently reported (Penin, F., Deléage, G., Gagliardi, D., Roux, B. and Gautheron, D.C. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 9358-9364), these purified subunits kept biophysical features of folded proteins and their ability to reconstitute the tight delta epsilon complex. The alpha and gamma subunits remained poorly soluble and required dissociation by 8 M guanidinium chloride prior to their purification by RP-HPLC. In addition, characterizations of the five subunits by IEF and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis are reported, as well as ultraviolet spectra and solubility properties of the beta, delta and epsilon subunits.

CD spectra have been recorded with subunit delta from chloroplast CF0CF1 and with OSCP from mitochondrial MF0MF1. These subunits are supposed to act similarly at the interface between proton transport through the F0-portion and ATP-synthesis in the F1-portion of their respective F0F1-ATPase. Evaluation of the data for both proteins revealed a very high alpha-helix content of approximately 85% and practically no beta-sheets. Despite their low homology on the primary structure level (23% identity) and their different electrostatic properties (pI-values differ by 3 units), spinach delta and porcine OSCP are indistinguishable with respect to their secondary structure as measured by CD. Prediction and analysis of consensual alpha-helices even in poorly conserved regions indicate a high degree of structural similarity between chloroplast delta and OSCP. In view of the topology and function of delta and OSCP in intact F0F1 these findings are interpreted to indicate the dominance of secondary and tertiary structure over the primary structure in their supposed function between proton flow and ATP-synthesis.

The first described alpha-subunit mutation of yeast mitochondrial F1 has been recently identified as a single Gln173----Leu substitution in a strongly conserved sequence (Falson, P., Maffey, L., Conrath, K., and Boutry, M. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 287-293). This mutation is shown here to greatly modify the biphasic pattern of ATPase activity as a function of pH: (i) the shoulder observed at acidic pH is significantly increased; (ii) the main peak, at alkaline pH, is markedly lowered; (iii) the optimal pH is shifted from 8.8 to 7.7. The mutation lowers both apparent negative cooperativity and sensitivity to azide inhibition which concomitantly increase when the assay pH decreases. Azide partial inhibition produces apparent negative cooperativity which can be further abolished by bicarbonate. The mutation increases both activation energies determined from biphasic Arrhenius plots. The mutation decreases the inactivation rate by 5'-p-fluorosulfonylbenzoyladenosine and abolishes the protection by nucleotide binding at the adenine-specific regulatory site. On the contrary, it does not modify the reactivity of 5'-p-fluorosulfonylbenzoylguanosine at the less-selective catalytic site. In addition, partial inactivation by 5'-p-fluorosulfonylbenzoyladenosine, as opposed to 5'-p-fluorosulfonylbenzoylguanosine, produces apparent negative cooperativity under conditions where unmodified-enzyme kinetics are noncooperative. The results show that alpha-Gln173 participates in nucleotide interaction at a regulatory site which controls the negative cooperativity of F1-ATPase activity.

Mitochondrial F1 from the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, in contrast to the mammalian enzyme, exhibits a characteristic intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence with a maximal excitation at 291 nm and a maximal emission at 332 nm. Low values of Stern-Volmer quenching constants, 4.0 M-1 or 1.8 M-1, respectively, in the presence of either acrylamide or iodide, indicate that tryptophans are mainly buried inside the native enzyme. Upon subunit dissociation and unfolding by 6 M guanidine hydrochloride (Gdn.HCl), the maximal emission is shifted to 354 nm, a value very similar to that obtained with N-acetyltryptophanamide, a solute-tryptophan model compound. The tryptophan content of each isolated subunit has been estimated by fluorescence titration in the presence of Gdn.HCl with free tryptophan as a standard. Two tryptophans and one tryptophan are found respectively in the alpha and epsilon subunits, whereas none is detected in the beta, gamma, and delta subunits. These subunit contents are consistent with the total of seven tryptophans estimated for native F1 with alpha 3 beta 3 gamma 1 delta 1 epsilon 1 stoichiometry. The maximal emission of the isolated epsilon subunit is markedly blue-shifted to 310-312 nm by interaction with the isolated delta subunit, which suggests that the epsilon subunit tryptophan might be a very minor contributor to the native F1 fluorescence measured at 332 nm. This fluorescence is very sensitive to phosphate, which produces a marked blue shift indicative of tryptophans in a more hydrophobic environment. On the other hand, ADP and ATP quench the maximal emission at 332 nm, lower tryptophan accessibility to acrylamide, and reveal tryptophan heterogeneity.

A 13-residue peptide containing the first 12 amino acids of the N-terminal part of the signal sequence of yeast cytochrome c oxidase subunit IV is shown by chemical crosslinking to interact with a mitochondrial protein. This result is obtained with mitochondria from four different origins. Submitochondrial localization experiments suggest that the 28 kDa labelled component is present on the outer face of the inner membrane. Since such addressing peptides are imported into mitochondria through the same machinery as protein precursors, the 28 kDa protein might be a component of the translocation apparatus.

A delta epsilon complex has been purified as a molecular entity from pig heart mitochondrial F1-ATPase. This delta epsilon complex has also been reconstituted from purified delta and epsilon subunits. Both isolated and reconstituted delta epsilon complexes have delta 1 epsilon 1 stoichiometry and are indistinguishable by their chromatographic behavior, their circular dichroism spectra (CD spectra), and their intrinsic fluorescence features. The content of secondary structures deduced from CD spectra of the delta epsilon complex appears to be the sum of the respective contributions of purified delta and epsilon subunits. All intrinsic fluorescence studies carried out on isolated epsilon subunit and delta epsilon complex show that the single tryptophan residue located on epsilon is involved in the interaction between delta and epsilon subunits. Results obtained with F1-ATPase are in favor of the same delta epsilon interaction in the entire enzyme.

Firefly luciferase from Photinus pyralis has been covalently bound to a collagen strip via an acylazide activation process. Immobilization performed in the presence of both substrates ATP and luciferin allows to increase the activity retained on the strip. The best activity exhibited by immobilized luciferase was obtained in a 0.05M Tris-acetate buffer, pH 7.75. The pH optimum and the activation energy of luciferase have been found unchanged after immobilization. In the chosen stirring conditions, no diffusional limitations of substrates appear. ATP measurements can be performed with collagen-bound luciferase in the range 1.10(-11) M-3.10(-6) M. It was possible to store the strips at 4 degrees C in a dehydrated form; then, the bound enzyme retains 20% of its initial activity after eight months. Human blood ATP was measured with this collagen-bound luciferase and the results were found in good agreement with those obtained by soluble luciferase.

Comparative intracellular distribution of Ca2+, Mg2+ and adenine nucleotides has been studied in pig heart by differential centrifugation or fractional extraction and has shown that Mg2+ and ATP are associated mainly with soluble fractions whereas Ca2+ and ADP are more tightly bound to subcellular structures. Ca2+ accumulation and Ca2+ stimulated respiration were studied in pig heart mitochondria under different energetic conditions in the absence or presence of phosphate. Ca2+ concentrations of about 1200 nmoles/mg protein inhibit Ca2+ accumulation, site I substrate oxidation and induce an efflux of mitochondrial Mg2+. These deleterious effects of Ca2+ on respiration occur even in the absence of phosphate or oxidizable substrate; they are completely prevented by ruthenium red only, and partially prevented by the addition of M2+ to the medium. The kinetics of Ca2+ uptake become of the sigmoidal type when Mg2+ is present. This cation strongly inhibits the rate of Ca2+ uptake in the presence of added phosphate and decreases the affinity of Ca2+ for its transport system. In the absence of phosphate, Mg2+ has no effect on Ca2+ uptake. The possible physiological implications of these findings are discussed

Solubilization of the specific mitochondrial isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CKm) from rabbit heart mitochondria by treatment with SH group reagents has been studied. From the various compounds tested only the negatively charged organomercurials are able to induce an extensive solubilization of the enzyme. This effect is fully reversible since the solubilized enzyme readily reassociates with the membrane when the bound organomercurial is removed by treatment of the homogenate by an excess of dithiothreitol. Solubilization by negatively charged organomercurials can be partly prevented by pretreatment of mitochondria with either disulfide or uncharged organomercurials. No clear-cut relationship has been pointed out when the amount of SH titrated by various reagents has been compared with the extent of CKm solubilization. More detailed studies with para-chloromercuribenzoate (pCMB) show that extensive CKm solubilization (about 75%) occurs for pCMB concentration as low as 25 microM, whereas pronounced inhibition of the enzyme is observed only for concentrations greater than 200 microM. By cross-reassociation of enzyme solubilized either by para-hydroxymercuribenzoate (pHMB) or by 20 mM sodium phosphate (NaPi) with mitochondria depleted of CKm by pHMB or by NaPi treatment, SH groups whose titration impedes CKm reassociation with the mitochondrial membrane have been tentatively located on the enzyme. Thus, negatively charged organomercurials, could induce a reversible conformational modification of the enzyme which is no longer able to bind on the inner mitochondrial membrane. Furthermore, our results show that the binding of an excess of mitochondrial CK, which has been previously reported, could reflect unspecific binding since it occurs only on mitoplasts incubated in very hypotonic medium, but not in isotonic medium.

The emission maximum of the fluorescence spectrum of mitochondrial F1-ATPase is shifted from 305 to 334 nm when the excitation wavelength is altered from 270 to 300 nm. This indicates that both tyrosine and tryptophan contribute to the intrinsic fluorescence of the F1-ATPase.

Comparison between the effects on various rat liver mitochondrial functions of ethacrynate, a thiol reagent inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylations [3, 4] and those of dihydroethacrynate its saturated derivative which is not a thiol reagent, has been performed. Both, ethacrynate and dihydroethacrynate increase oxygen consumption by mitochondria in state 4 (succinate as substrate) in a concentration dependent way (from 1 to 5 X 10(-4) M EA or DHEA). This activation is followed, only with ethacrynate, by an inhibition appearing sooner with higher concentrations. After preincubation or mitochondria with ethacrynate (1 to 5 X 10(-4) M), the stimulation of respiration by (ADP + Pi) is completely inhibited whereas it is only weakly affected by dihydroethacrynate at the same concentrations. Ethacrynate and dihydroethacrynate provoke variations of intramitochondrial Mg2+ and K+ levels which need energy from the respiratory chain. These are affected by Pi or (Pi + ADP) in a different way with ethacrynate and with dihydroethacrynate. After preincubation with mitochondria, ethacrynate and to a smaller extent dihydroethacrynate, inhibit partially ADP translocation; ADP increases the inhibitory effect of EA on translocation and not that of dihydroethacrynate. Ethacrynate increases the oligomycin sensitive ATPase activity and dihydroethacrynate still more. After a ten minutes preincubation with mitochondria, ethacrynate and dihydroethacrynate hardly affect the 2.4 DNP stimulated ATPase activity. Preincubation with succinate or ADP strongly increases the ethacrynate inhibition whereas it decreases dihydroethacrynate inhibition. Ethacrynate and dihydroethacrynate do not affect the efflux of Pi produced by ATP hydrolysis but ethacrynate enforces the inhibitory effect of mersalyl (Mg2+ containing medium). After ten minutes of preincubation with mitochondria, ethacrynate binds 25 nmoles of -SH/mg protein (DTNB titration) and dihydroethacrynate has no effect. These results show an effect of ethacrynate on two types of thiols linked with energy conservation mechanisms and ADP translocation. These thiols could be unmasked or made accessible by conformational modifications of the inner membrane upon energization or addition of ADP.

A partial revertant from a mutant with modified alpha subunits of mitochondrial ATPase-ATPsynthase has been obtained for the first time from the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The purified F1 contains a lower amount of endogenous nucleotides as compared to the wild-strain enzyme. In contrast to the wild-type, the F1 ATPase activity from the revertant does not exhibit bicarbonate-sensitive negative cooperativity. The revertant Michaelis constant for Mg-ATP is very similar to that of normal F1 in the presence of bicarbonate while the Vm is slightly lower. The revertant enzyme is much less sensitive to inhibitions by ADP and by azide. It is proposed that the lack of negative cooperativity of revertant F1 ATPase activity is due to lower affinity for ADP, the release of which is no longer the rate-limiting step.

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of a cationic detergent, tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TDAB) has been compared to electrophoresis in the presence of an anionic detergent, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Although, in both systems, the peptides generally migrated as a function of their molecular weight, the TDAB electrophoresis permitted us to obtain a much better resolution of several peptides of the mitochondrial F0-F1-ATPase, especially for the alpha and beta subunits and for the oligomycin sensitivity conferring protein (OSCP). The differences between the two electrophoretic profiles have been used to devise a new technique of two-dimensional electrophoresis using successively anionic and cationic detergents. This method could be very useful in the case of membrane proteins, which are generally soluble only in the presence of powerful ionic detergents. It has been particularly successful in resolving the small peptides of the F0-F1-ATPase which were difficult to differentiate by other techniques in one- or two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Phenotypic revertants have been selected from mutants of the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe devoid of either alpha or beta subunits of mitochondrial ATPase-ATPsynthase. In contrast to parental mutants, phenotypic revertants are able to grow on glycerol respiratory medium and show immunodetectable alpha and beta subunits. However, growth and cellular respiration are only partially restored as compared to the wild strain, indicating that the recovered subunits are mutated. ATPase activity of revertant submitochondrial particles shows markedly different parameters: more acidic optimal pH, absence of bicarbonate activation and decreased sensitivity to azide inhibition in the alpha subunit-modified R3.51. Opposite differences are observed in the beta subunit-modified R4.3: more alkaline optimal pH, much higher bicarbonate activation, and increased sensitivity to azide. The ITPase activity of R4.3 submitochondrial particles is also more sensitive to azide as compared to the wild strain. ATPase activity of purified F1 also exhibits marked differences: loss of bicarbonate-sensitive negative cooperativity, decreased sensitivity to both ADP and azide inhibitions in the R3.51 revertant. On the contrary, increased negative cooperativity and increased sensitivity to both ADP and azide inhibitions are observed for the R4.3 revertant enzyme which in addition exhibits a much lower maximal rate. The beta subunit-mutation of R4.3 also increases the sensitivity of ITPase activity to tripolyphosphate inhibition, whereas the alpha subunit-mutation of R3.51 is without any effect. Soluble F1 with beta subunit-mutation is very sensitive to high ammonium sulfate concentrations required for enzyme precipitation and concentration and known to partially deplete the enzyme from its endogenous nucleotides. On the contrary, poly(ethylene)glycol is very efficient for preparing from any strain a pure and very stable enzyme retain-ing high amounts of endogenous nucleotides. The R4.3 revertant F1 retains even more nucleotides than the wild-strain F1 and is much less sensitive to high iodide concentrations which favor enzyme dissociation and precipitation. The tryptophan intrinsic fluorescence of F1 is modified by both mutations that increase the maximal emission intensity. The most important effect is produced by beta subunit-mutation which decreases the quenchable fraction, one-third to one-half tryptophans being no longer accessible to iodide. The overall results suggest that both mutations modify enzyme-nucleotide interactions: the alpha subunit-mutation of R3.51 would favor ADP release by lowering interactions with the adenine moiety, whereas the beta subunit-mutation of R4.3 would lower ADP release by strengthening interactions with the phosphate chain moiety.

An investigation, using specific chemical reagents, of the amino acids involved in the catalytic activity of the purified 5'-nucleotidase (5'-ribonucleotide phosphohydrolase, EC 3.1.3.5) from bovine liver plasma membranes, was carried out. The enzyme was irreversibly inactivated by N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1,2-dihydroquinoline (EEDQ). The inhibition kinetics were of the first-order type and decreased partially in the presence of nucleotides and divalent cations. These results indicate for the first time that a carboxyl group is essential for the catalytic process of 5'-nucleotidase. Moreover, chemical modification by diethylpyrocarbonate also produced inactivation of the enzyme and showed a differential spectrum with a peak at 240 nm characteristic of N-carbethoxyhistidine residues. This inactivation was efficiently released upon decarbethoxylation by hydroxylamine only when the extent of inactivation, due to low concentration of diethylpyrocarbonate, was limited. The time-dependent inactivation followed first-order kinetics and nucleotides afforded significant protection against diethylpyrocarbonate modification. The results indicate the involvement of the histidine residue in catalysis.

The improvement in mitochondrial functions which normally occurs in newborn rat liver in vivo during the few hours following delivery is inhibited by a glucose injection at birth (Meister, R., Comte, J., Baggetto, L., G., Godinot, C. and Gautheron, D.C. (1983) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 722, 36-42). To test whether this improvement could be correlated to changes in cyclic nucleotides, the levels of cAMP and cGMP have been measured during the 2 h following birth. At birth, a short rise followed by a decrease of cAMP occurs, then a significant increase of cAMP level is observed between 45 min and 2 h. The cAMP level for animals injected at birth with glucose is lower than for control animals at each time studied. The cGMP level is not significantly affected in control animals, while in glucose-treated animals a significant decrease of cGMP is observed in the postnatal 2 h. The present work shows also that the glucose-induced inhibition of mitochondrial maturation is mimicked by injection at birth of either 8-Br-cGMP or nitroprusside. The latter transiently increases intracellular cGMP. In contrast, the glucose-induced inhibition is prevented by the injection at birth of either dbcAMP or alkylxanthines together with glucose (Comte, J., Meister, R., Baggetto, L.G., Godinot, C. and Gautheron, D.C. (1986) Biochem. Pharmacol. 35, 2411-2416). It is concluded that the postnatal improvement of mitochondrial functions is stimulated by cAMP and inhibited by cGMP, and that glucose-induced inhibition of the maturation is at least partly supported by a decrease in cAMP but not correlated to an increase in cGMP.

Soluble ATPase (F1) has been purified from pig heart mitochondria. The purified enzyme had a high specific activity and was homogeneous as checked by ultracentrifugation and electrofocusing. It could be dissociated into subunits by cold-treatment or sodium dodecyl sulfate denaturation. The molecular weights of the two major and three minor subunits could be estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis. The native enzyme had an isoelectric point of 5.2 while the cold-denatured enzyme showed three main bands focusing at pH 5.0, 5.2, and 5.4. Kinetic properties (Vm and Km (atp) have been compared for the soluble and membrane bound ATPase in presence of various anions. Inhibitory effects of Quercetin and other flavonoids have been tested in order to get an insight on the interaction between ATPase and its natural inhibitor.