Selective effects of organic mercurials on the GTP-regulatory proteins of adenylate cyclase systems.

Treatment of membranes from HeLa cells, rat adipocytes, and rat liver with organic mercurials results in complex effects on adenylate cyclase activity that are not mimicked by the reversible sulfhydryl reagent, tetrathionate. At low concentrations (0.1 mM or less 1 mercurials inactivate the enzyme; inactivation is reversed by the thiol-reducing agent, dithiothreitol. Treatment with higher concentrations of organic mercurials (1 mM and above) results in a time-dependent, irreversible change in the ability of guanine nucleotides and fluoride ion to stimulate adenylate cyclase activity. The irreversible changes are blocked by treatment of membranes with cholera toxin and NAD, suggesting that the GTP-regulatory component is the site of mercurial action. This is further suggested by the lack of irreversible effects of mercurials on adenylate cyclase activity in membranes from mouse lymphoma cells that lack this component. Irreversible effects of mercurials on the adipocyte cyclase system also include enhancement of basal activity and potentiation of the inhibitory effects of GTP on cyclase activity; the latter effects of GTP are mediated through a process independent from that mediating stimulation of activity by GTP. It is concluded that the GTP-regulatory proteins responsible for the modulation of adenylate cyclase activity by hormones and neurotransmitters contain the sites of action of organic mercurials. Their possible mode of action is discussed.