The Calcium-binding ATPase Inhibitor Protein from Bovine Heart Mitochondria. Purification and Properties

Two ATPase inhibitor proteins were isolated together from bovine heart mitochondria by a new procedure; each was purified further. The one inhibitor is a Ca2+-binding protein. It was found to contain 2 cysteine residues/mol as well as threonine and proline residues, all of which the other inhibitor (first isolated by Pullman and Monroy (Pullman, M.E., and Monroy, G. C. (1963) J. Biol. Chem. 238, 3762-3769] lacks. Its minimal molecular weight was 6390 with 62 amino acid residues/mol, and its isoelectric point was 4.6. Besides differences in size, composition, and response to Ca2+, the two inhibitor proteins also differed in response to sulfhydryl compounds, pH, KCl, and cardiolipin. Inhibition by the two inhibitor proteins was additive. Both cross-reacted with mitochondrial ATPase from rat skeletal muscle. Calmodulin, with or without Ca2+, had no effect on the activity of either inhibitor protein. Antibody to the Ca2+-binding inhibitor protein did not interact with the Pullman-Monroy inhibitor or have any effect on its activity. The antibody interacted with intact submitochondrial particles that contained both inhibitor proteins but not with particles from which only the Ca2+-binding inhibitor had been removed. Clearly, the two inhibitors are distinct immunologically as well as in other properties. The two types of inhibitor protein were also isolated from rat skeletal muscle mitochondria by the new procedure.