Mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase. Location of sulfhydryl groups and disulfide bonds in soluble enzyme from beef heart.

The soluble beef heart mitochondrial ATPase (F1) contains eight sulfhydryl groups and two disulfide bonds. N-Ethylmaleimide has been used to radioactively label the sulfhydryl groups before and after cleavage of the disulfide bonds by dithiothreitol. After subjecting the labeled protein to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate and measuring radioactivity in each of the separated subunits the location of all the sulfhydryl groups and the disulfide bonds may be specified. The conclusions are supported by direct examination of depolymerized, unreduced, enzyme by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The results also indicate that current ideas regarding the overall subunit structure of this enzyme may be incorrect, and this is discussed in light of new data presented here.