Substrate sites of the (Na+ + K+)-ATPase: pertinence of the adenine and fluorescein binding sites.

The (Na+ + K+)-activated ATPase catalyzes the K+-activated hydrolysis of 3-O-methylfluorescein phosphate (3OMFP) with a Km of 50 microM, nearly two orders of magnitude lower than the Km for nitrophenyl phosphate, 3 mM. Both ATP and nitrophenyl phosphate are competitors toward 3OMFP with Ki values corresponding to their Km values (for ATP that at the low-affinity sites of the E2 conformation). Enzyme treated with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) such that 60% of the (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity is lost still hydrolyzes both 3OMFP and nitrophenyl phosphate: the apparent Km values are increased less than 2-fold and the Vmax is unaffected. ATP still inhibits these K+-phosphatase reactions of the FITC-treated enzyme, and this inhibition can exceed the 40% of residual (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity. Evaluation of a kinetic model indicates that the Ki for ATP is increased about an order of magnitude by FITC-binding. Similar results obtain with trinitrophenyl-ATP (TNP-ATP) as inhibitor, in this case with Ki values in the micromolar range. Finally, FITC treatment increases K+-activated ADPase activity. These observations are interpreted as the fluorescein ring of 3OMFP binding to the adenine pocket of the substrate site, thereby conferring high affinity, just as the fluorescein ring of FITC binding to the adenine pocket in the E1 conformation permits specific linkage of the isothiocyanate chain to a particular lysine, Lys-501. Then, coincident with the transition to the E2 conformation, which bears the low-affinity site for ATP and which catalyzes the K+-phosphatase reaction, the FITC molecule tethered to Lys-501 is pulled from the adenine pocket: allowing 3OMFP and ADP to bind as substrates and ATP and TNP-ATP as inhibitors, albeit in altered conformation. The E1 to E2 transition thus involves not only a change from high to low affinity for ATP, but also a distortion of the adenine pocket and the orientation between Lys-501 and Asp-369, the residue associated with catalysis.