Effect of neutral and acidic phospholipids on mitochondrial ATP synthase secondary structure.

The secondary structure of delipidated and egg phosphatidylcholine or asolectin reconstituted mitochondrial ATP synthase complex from beef heart was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Upon reconstitution, the infrared spectra of ATP synthase revealed an increase in turns and a concomitant decrease in beta-sheet content which occurred to a larger extent in the presence of asolectin rather than in the presence of egg phosphatidylcholine. These data correlate with kinetic data showing a higher ATPase activity of the asolectin reconstituted enzyme protein than the egg phosphatidylcholine reconstituted or delipidated enzyme complexes.