The effect of sulfite on the ATP hydrolysis and synthesis activity of membrane-bound H(+)-ATP synthase from various species.

The action of sulfite on ATP hydrolysis and synthesis activities is investigated in membrane vesicles prepared from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus 6716, chromatophores from the photosynthetic purple bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum, membrane vesicles from the related non-photosynthetic bacterium Paracoccus denitrificans, and bovine heart submitochondrial particles. Without any further pretreatment ATP hydrolysis is stimulated by sulfite in all four membrane preparations. Typically ATP synthesis in the cyanobacterial membrane vesicles is inhibited by sulfite, whereas ATP synthesis in chromatophores and the submitochondrial particles is not. These differences in sensitivity of ATP synthesis to sulfite, however, correspond well with the distribution of (photosynthetic) sulfur oxidizing pathways in the remaining three organisms/organelles compared in this study.