Fast reversal of the initial reaction steps of the plasma membrane (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase

Calmodulin-depleted red cell membranes catalyse a Ca2+, Mg2+-dependent ATP-[3H]ADP exchange at 37 degrees C. The Ca2+, Mg2+-dependent exchange, measured at 20 microM CaCl2, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 1.5 mM ADP and 1.5 mM ATP, is comparable to the (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase activity, between 0.3 and 0.8 mmol/litre original cells per h. EDTA-washed membranes present a Ca2+-dependent ATP-ADP exchange whose rate is not more than 7% of that found in a Mg2+-containing medium, while their Ca2+-dependent ATPase is essentially zero. Addition of 1.5 mM MgCl2 to the medium restores both activities to the levels found with membranes not treated with EDTA. Calmodulin (16 micrograms/ml) produces an eight-fold stimulation of the Ca2+-dependent ATP-ADP exchange, slightly less than it stimulates the Ca2+-dependent ATP hydrolysis. The effect of 1.5 mM MgCl2 on the exchange is greater in the presence than in the absence of calmodulin. It is proposed that the reversal of the initial phosphorylation of the Ca2+ pump, occurring at a fast rate at 37 degrees C, involves a conformational change in the phosphoenzyme. Thus, it would be an ADP-liganded phosphoenzyme of the form EP(ADP) that would experience the fast conformational transition at 37 degrees C. The great difficulty in producing an overall reversal of the Ca2+ pump should then be due to one or more reaction steps later than and including Ca2+ release and dephosphorylation.