Uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation: different effects of lipophilic weak acids and electrogenic ionophores on the kinetics of ATP synthesis

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Previous studies from this laboratory have shown that the kinetics of ATP synthesis by bovine heart submitochondrial particles (SMP) are modulated by the coupled rate of respiration between two extremes of Vmax and apparent Km's for ADP and Pi [Matsuno-Yagi, A., & Hatefi, Y. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 14031-14038; Hekman, C., Matsuno-Yagi, A., & Hatefi, Y. (1988) Biochemistry 27, 7559-7565]. Thus, with ADP as the variable substrate, ATP synthesis occurred with Vmax = 200 nmol of ATP min-1 (mg of protein)-1 at 30 degrees C and an apparent KmADP = 2-4 microM at low rates of respiration, and with Vmax = 11,000 nmol of ATP min-1 (mg of protein)-1 at 30 degrees C and an apparent KmADP = 120-160 microM at high rates of respiration. At intermediate respiration rates, it was necessary to introduce a third intermediate KmADP for best fit of the kinetic data, indicating that transition from one kinetic extreme to the other is not abrupt and involves intermediate kinetic states of the ATP synthase complexes. The present paper shows that uncouplers affect the kinetics of ATP synthesis by SMP in two ways. When used at moderate concentrations, electrogenic ionophores such as gramicidin D or valinomycin plus nigericin decreased the Vmax for ATP synthesis without changing the contributions of the low, intermediate, and high KmADP to the overall rate of ATP synthesis. By contrast, potent lipophilic weak acid uncouplers, such as FCCP, CCCP, S-13, and SF6847, decreased Vmax and converted the kinetics of ATP synthesis toward high KmADP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)