A Protein Inhibitor of Mitochondrial Adenosine Triphosphatase (F1) from Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

A heat-stable protein has been detected in Saccharomyces cerevisiae which inhibits mitochondrial ATPase activity. The protein inhibitor has been isolated from extracts prepared by brief heat treatment of unbroken cell suspensions. The isolated inhibitor is a small basic protein (molecular weight close to 7000, isoelectric proint 9.05) devoid of tryptophan, tyrosine, and cysteine as well as proline. The NHP2-terminal amino acid is serine. The ultraviolet absorption spectrum shows the vibrational fine structure of the phenyl-alanine band. Like the ATPase inhibitor from bovine heart mitochondria the yeast inhibitor is rapidly destroyed by trypsin. It is also inactivated by the yeast proteinases A and B. Radioimmunological analysis indicates that the inhibitor is synthesized on cytoplasmic ribosomes. Its accumulation seems to be connected to the formation of the mitochondrial ATPase complex, since its specific activity is greatly reduced both in extracts obtained from the F1-ATPase-deficient nuclear mutant pet 936 and from the cytoplasmic petite mutant D 273-10B-1.