Mg2+‐ATPase activity in wheat root plasma membrane vesicles: Time‐dependence and effect of sucrose and detergents

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Purified plasma membrane vesicles were isolated in the presence of 250 mM sucrose from 7‐day‐old roots of Triticum aestivum L. cv. Drabant by aqueous polymer two‐phase partitioning. When added to a low‐salt medium containing 9‐aminoacridine (9‐AA), the vesicles caused a much larger total decrease in 9‐AA fluorescence when sucrose was absent than when sucrose was present. A slow component of the decrease was also larger in the absence of sucrose. Triton X‐100 reduced the decrease in 9‐AA fluorescence upon vesicle addition and abolished completely the slow component of the decrease. There was no correlation between the time‐dependence of 9‐AA fluorescence and that of the Mg2+‐ATPase described below.The time course of Mg2+‐ATPase activity was followed by sampling at short intervals (down to 10 s) and analyzing for P, released. In the absence of detergent, the rates of P, release were linear from zero minutes, whether 250 mM sucrose was present or not, but the rate was 10−50% higher in the absence of sucrose than in its presence. Sucrose (250 mM) added during a minus‐sucrose assay lowered Mg2+‐ATPase activity within 2 min to the level observed with 250 mM sucrose present from the start. The effect of 25‐1 100 mM sucrose was tested and there was little or no effect below KM) mM. Above 100 mM sucrose the rate of P, release decreased drastically; at 1 100 mM sucrose the rate was ca 20% the rate at 25 mM sucrose. The inhibitory effect of sucrose was not alleviated by increased concentrations of Mg2+ and/or ATP. nor was it affected by the presence or absence of Triton X‐100. We conclude that sucrose somehow inhibits the Mg2+‐ATPase directly or affects the conformation of the plasma membrane in such a way as to inhibit the enzyme.The presence of detergents increased Mg2+‐ATPase activity in the order Triton X‐100 (4–5‐fold) > Zwittergent 3–14 = Na‐cholate = octylglucoside > digitonin (2‐fold). In all cases optimal activity was observed at detergent concentrations at or below the critical micellar concentration. The detergent concentration curves could be simulated by the sum of a stimulatory and an inhibitory reaction. At the optimal concentration, digitonin gave a linear time‐course of P, release, whereas all the other detergents showed a distinct lag of 1–3 min before maximal rates were attained. The problems of using detergents in polarity assays are discussed.