Characterization of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase liposomes. I. Effect of enzyme concentration and modification on liposome size, intramembrane particle formation and Na+,K+-transport.

Rabbit renal (Na+ + K+)-ATPase (EC 3.6.1.3) was purified and incorporated into phosphatidylcholine liposomes. Freeze-fracture analysis of the reconstituted system reveals intramembrane particles formed by (Na+ + K+)-ATPase molecules which are randomly distributed on concave and convex fracture faces. The reconstituted (Na+ + K+)-ATPase performs active Na+,K+-transport. The distribution of particles as well as the rate of active transport are directly proportional to the (Na+ + K+)-ATPase protein concentration used for reconstitution, while the total amount of sodium and potassium ions exchanged by ATP per volume vesicle suspension reaches maximum when each vesicle contains on the average more than two particles. (Na+ + K+)-ATPase pretreated with ouabain or vanadate yields the same particle density and vesicle size as control enzyme. However, detergent-denatured enzyme loses its ability to form intramembrane particles or to increase the vesicle size indicating that the lipids surrounding the protein part of the molecule are essential for the reconstitution process. The vesicle diameter increases as a function of the number of particles per vesicle. Histograms of the size distribution become wider with increasing intramembrane particle density and tend to show more than one maximum.