ADENINE NUCLEOTIDE-INDUCED CONTRACTION OF THE INNER MITOCHONDRIAL MEMBRANE

In bovine heart mitochondria bongkrekic acid at concentrations as low as about 4 nmol/mg protein (a) completely inhibits phosphorylation of exogenous adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and dephosphorylation of exogenous adenosine triphosphate (ATP), (b) completely reverses atractyloside inhibition of inner membrane contraction induced by exogenous adenine nucleotides, and (c) decreases the amount of adenine nucleotide required to elicit maximal exogenous adenine nucleotide-induced inner membrane contraction to a level which appears to correspond closely with the concentration of contractile, exogenous adenine nucleotide binding sites Bongkrekic acid at concentrations greater than 4 nmol/mg protein induces inner membrane contraction which seems to depend on the presence of endogenous ADP and/or ATP. The findings appear to be consistent with the interpretations (a) that the inner mitochondrial membrane contains two types of contractile, adenine nucleotide binding sites, (b) that the two sites differ markedly with regard to adenine nucleotide affinity, (c) that the high affinity site is identical with the adenine nucleotide exchange carrier, (d) that the low affinity site is accessible exclusively to endogenous adenine nucleotides and is largely unoccupied in the absence of bongkrekic acid, and (e) that bongkrekic acid increases the affinity of both sites in proportion to the amount of the antibiotic bound to the inner membrane.