Resolution and reconstitution of Rhodospirillum rubrum pyridine dinucleotide transhydrogenase. Proteolytic and thermal inactivation of the membrane component

Abstract

Pyridine dinucleotide transhydrogenase of the Rhodospirillum rubrum chromatophore membrane was readily resolved by a washing procedure into two inactive components, a soluble transhydrogenase factor protein and an insoluble membrane-bound factor. Transhydrogenation was reconstituted on reassociation of these components. The capacity of the membrane factor to reconstitute enzymatic activity was lost after proteolysis of soluble transhydrogenase factor-depleted membranes with trypsin. NADP+ or NADPH, but neither NAD+ nor NADH, stimulated by several fold the rate of trypsin-dependent inactivation of the membrane factor. Substantial protection of the membrane factor from proteolytic inactivation was observed in the presence of Mg2+ ions, an inhibitor of transhydrogenation, or when the soluble transhydrogenase factor was bound to the membrane. Coincident with the loss of enzymatic reconstitutive capacity of the membrane factor was a loss in the ability of the membranes to bind the soluble transhydrogenase factor in a stable complex. The membrane component was inactivated by preincubating soluble transhydrogenase factor-depleted membranes at temperatures above 45 degrees. NADP+, NADPH, or Mg2+ ions, but neither NAD+ nor NADH, protected against inactivation. These studies indicate that (a) the binding of NADP+ or NADPH to the membrane factor promotes a conformational alteration in the protein such that its themostability and susceptibility to proteolysis are increased, and (b) the inhibitory Mg2+ ion-binding site resides in the membrane component.