A method for determining the adenosine triphosphatase content of energy-transducing membranes. reaction of 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan with the adenosine triphosphatase of bovine heart submitochondrial particles.

1. Modification of a single amino acid residue by introduction of the nitrobenzofurazan group inactivates mitochondrial ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) when membrane-bound in submitochondrial particles. The similarity between the reactions of both membrane-bound and isolated ATPase with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan indicates that the single essential tryosine residue identified in the isolated enzyme [Ferguson, Loyd, Lyons & Radda (1975) Eur. J. Biochem. 54, 117-126] Is also a feature of the membrane-bound ATPase. 2. A procedure is presented for estimating the ATPase content of the inner mitochondrial membrane. It is based on the specificity of the incorporation of the nitrobenzofurazan group, and the ready removal of this group by compounds that contain a thiol group. This method indicates that 8.5% of the membrane protein is ATPase. The procedure should be applicable to the titration of the energy-transducing ATPases of bacterial plasma membranes and of the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts. 3. Combination of the data obtained on the ATPase content of the bovine heart inner mitochondrial membrane with a titration of the cytochrome bc1 complex with antimycin indicates that these two components of the membrane are present in approximately equal amounts.