Purification and immunological properties of proton-ATPase complexes from yeast and rat liver mitochondria

Proton-ATPase complexes from yeast and rat liver mitochondria were isolated by a simple method previously employed for the purification of the proton-ATPase complex from chloroplasts. After reconstitution into liposomes, the purified complexes were active in the ATP-Pi exchange reaction, the rate of which was 120 and at least 200 nmol/mg of protein/min for the rat liver and yeast mitochondria ATPases, respectively. Upon sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, each complex exhibited 11 to 12 different polypeptides. The isolated ATPase complexes from rat liver and yeast mitochondria, from Swiss chard chloroplasts, and Escherichia coli membranes were reacted with antibodies prepared against the various subunits of ATPase complexes. From all the combinations of antigen-antibody examined, only the antibodies against beta subunit cross-reacted with the corresponding subunit of all the ATPase complexes tested. These results indicate that certain amino acid sequences in the beta subunit have been preserved in all of the proton-ATPase complexes.