The effect of the ATPase activity of Manduca sexta V 1 ATPase by the amphipathic detergent lauryldimethylamine oxide (LDAO) and the relationship of these activities to the subunit composition of V 1 were studied. The Vacuolar ATPases (V 1 V O ATPases) define an ubiquitous class of proton pumps, which utilize ATP hydrolysis to maintain an acidic pH inside the vacuole (1). The electrochemical ion gradient created across the vacuolar membrane is used for the accumulation of positively charged substrates such as calcium and basic amino acids (2). In addition to this storage function, the vacuolar compartment has secretory and proteolytic functions (3, 4). The V-ATPases, consisting of at least thirteen distinct subunits (A 3 :B 3 :C:D:E:F:G y :H z :a:d:c:cЈ:cЉ) are morphologically subdivided in two components: a membrane-bound domain, V O , that contains the ion channel, and an extrinsic domain, V 1 , in which ATP hydrolysis takes place (4, 5). The two major subunits A and B, in a stoichiometry of A 3 :B 3 , contain the nucleotide-binding sites and are connected to the V O part by the so-called stalk subunits C-H (6). Seen from the side the structures of the V 1 ATPase, recently identified from Caloramator fervidus (7) and the tobacco hornworm, M. sexta (8,9), revealed a molecule with a single, compact stalk.The V 1 ATPase from M. sexta, which reversibly dissociates from the V O part as an in vivo regulatory mechanism (10), is the object of our studies and comprises the eight subunits A, B, H, C, D, E, G, and F with apparent molecular masses of 67, 56, 54,40,32,28,14, and 16 kDa, respectively (11). Low resolution structural studies of this V 1 complex using small-angle x-ray scattering have shown that the hydrated enzyme is an elongated molecule. The x-ray data define a mushroom-shaped V 1 ATPase, which consists of an ϳ145 Å headpiece, joined by an elongated stalk (8). Image processing of electron micrographs of negatively stained V 1 (9, 12, 13) has revealed that the headpiece consists of a pseudo-hexagonal arrangement of six masses surrounding a seventh mass. These barrel-shaped masses of approximately 30 Å in diameter and 80 Å in length, which consist of the major subunits A and B, are arranged in an alternating manner (9). The hexagonal barrel of subunits A and B encloses a cavity of ϳ32 Å in which part of the central stalk is asymmetrically located. The stalk protrudes from the bottom side of the headpiece forming an angle of ϳ7°with the vertical axis of the molecule. At the upper end of the hexagonal barrel extensions can be observed, assumed to belong to the N termini of subunit A (9, 13). Further insights into the topology of the M. sexta V 1 ATPase were obtained by differential protease sensitivity, release by chaotropic agents (13), and cross-linking studies (13,14). These studies resulted in a model in which the subunits H, C, D, G, and F are exposed in the enzyme, whereas subunit E is shielded in the complex (6,13,14).Here we report an investigation of the structure-function relationship of the V 1 stalk...