Biomembrane affinity chromatographic analysis of nitrobenzylthioinosine binding to the reconstituted human red cell nucleoside transporter.

Solute interactions with membrane proteins can be analyzed by biomembrane affinity chromatography (BAC), previously applied to the human red cell glucose transporter. As a novel example, frontal BAC analysis of interactions between the nucleoside transport inhibitor nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBTI) and immobilized reconstituted nucleoside and glucose transporters from human red cells revealed two binding sites, presumably corresponding to the two transporters. The affinities and amounts of sites were determined by use of a double rectangular hyperbolic equation. The Kd value for NBTI binding to the nucleoside transporter in egg phospholipid proteoliposomes was 0.38 +/- 0.08 nM (22 degrees C, I = 0.16, pH 7.4), lower than previously reported for reconstituted systems. The molar ratio between the amounts of nucleoside transporter sites for NBTI and glucose transporter sites for cytochalasin B was 4.5 +/- 0.6%.