ATP-driven transhydrogenation and ionization of water in a reconstituted glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases (phosphorylating and non-phosphorylating) model system.

In an unbuffered medium, an intense acidification occurs during the oxidation of D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) to 3-phospho-D-glycerate (PGA) catalyzed by NADP(+)-specific non-phosphorylating G3P dehydrogenase, an enzyme that photosynthetic eukaryotic cells contain exclusively in their cytosol. The true enzymatic character of this proton release is the consequence of the following redox/acid-base reaction: G3P + NADP+ + H2O-->PGA + NADPH + 2H+. When the well-established ATP-dependent reduction of PGA to G3P, catalyzed by PGA kinase and NAD(+)-specific phosphorylating G3P dehydrogenase, was coupled through the intermediate G3P to the above reverse oxidation reaction, a transient alkalinization of the medium followed by its acidification accompanied transhydrogenation from NADH to NADP+. The significance of the observed endergonic transhydrogenation and ionization of water at the expense of the chemical energy of ATP in this reconstituted enzyme system as well as its relevance for the export of reducing power (H-) across the chloroplast membrane and the maintenance of the pH gradient that exists between the stroma and the cytosol are discussed.