Characterisation of subunit III and its oligomer from spinach chloroplast ATP synthase

Proton ATP synthases carry out energy conversion in mitochondria, chloroplasts, and bacteria. A key element of the membrane integral motor CFO in chloroplasts is the oligomer of subunit III: it converts the energy of a transmembrane electrochemical proton gradient into rotational movement. To enlighten prominent features of the structure-function relationship of subunit III from spinach chloroplasts, new isolation methods were established to obtain highly pure monomeric and oligomeric subunit III in milligram quantities. By Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and CD spectroscopy, the predominantly alpha-helical secondary structure of subunit III was demonstrated. For monomeric subunit III, a conformational change was observed when diluting the SDS-solubilized protein. Under the same conditions the conformation of the oligomer III did not change. A mass of 8003 Da for the monomeric subunit III was determined by MALDI mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS), showing that no posttranslational modifications occurred. By ionisation during MALDI-MS, the noncovalent homooligomer III14 disaggregated into its III monomers.