Change of inhibitor sensitivities of Escherichia coli F1-ATPase due to a mutational substitution of Phe for Ser at residue 174 of the beta subunit.

The F1-ATPase from the uncD11 mutant of E. coli (Kanazawa, H., Horiuchi, Y., Takagi, M., Ishino, Y., & Futai, M. (1980) J. Biochem. 88, 695-703), showed different enzymological properties from the wild-type enzyme. The mutant F1-ATPase had biphasic kinetics and essentially the same Km values as the wild-type enzyme, although its Vmax values were lower. The mutant enzyme showed altered sensitivities to dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD), azide and quercetin; it was less sensitive than the wild-type to quercetin and DCCD, and its Mg2+-dependent ATPase activity was slightly more resistant to azide than that of the wild-type, whereas its Ca2+-dependent activity was more sensitive. On the other hand, the mutant and wild-type F1 were inhibited equally by 4-chloro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-Cl). The fact that the Mg2+- and Ca2+-dependent F1-ATPase activities of the wild-type and mutant responded differently to quercetin and azide suggested that their mechanisms of action were different. Previous studies (Noumi, T., Mosher, M.E., Natori, S., Futai, M., & Kanazawa, H. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 10071-10075) indicated that Ser is replaced by Phe at residue 174 of the beta subunit of the mutant. Thus the Ser residue or its neighboring area(s) may constitute the binding site of DCCD, quercetin and azide.