ATP hydrolysis by Na؉ /K ؉ -ATPase proceeds via the interaction of simultaneously existing and cooperating high (E 1 ATP) and low (E 2 ATP) substrate binding sites. It is unclear whether both ATP sites reside on the same or on different catalytic ␣-subunits. To answer this question, we looked for a fluorescent label for the E 2 ATP site that would be suitable for distance measurements by Fö rster energy transfer after affinity labeling of the E 1 ATP site by fluorescein 5-isothiocyanate (FITC).
Naϩ /K ϩ -ATPase is an integral membrane protein that transports sodium and potassium ions against an electrochemical gradient. The transport of Na ϩ and K ϩ ions is presumably connected to an oscillation of the enzyme between two major conformational states, namely the E 1 Na ϩ and the E 2 K ϩ conformations. The E 1 and E 2 states have different affinities for ATP. The pumping mechanism may be described by conformational changes of a single ATP site of the catalytic ␣-subunit between a high affinity E 1 ATP 1 site (from where Na ϩ export starts by phosphorylation) and a low affinity E 2 ATP site (which is involved in K ϩ import) (1-3). Yet a model assuming consecutive changes of a single ATP site during the catalytic process, the so-called Albers-Post model, is inconsistent with the recent kinetic demonstration of simultaneously existing and cooperating ATP binding sites (4, 5) and the finding that specific labeling of the E 1 ATP or the E 2 ATP sites does not block labeling and partial activities of the other empty site (6 -13). The recent demonstration of a "superphosphorylation," i.e. that at least 2 mol of phosphate can be incorporated into the catalytic ␣-subunit per mol of ouabain binding sites (14), is consistent with the coexistence of phosphorylated intermediates (E 1 P, E*P, and E 2 P (15)) at different places in an oligomeric enzyme. Also, the observations of phosphorylation from P i during Na ϩ -ATPase activity (16) and in an FITC-treated enzyme (10) are consistent with the possibility that Na ϩ /K ϩ -ATPase is phosphorylated from both ATP sites (12, 17).Since two ATP binding sites of Na ϩ /K ϩ -ATPase cooperate during ATP hydrolysis (4, 5), it is of great interest to obtain more detailed information on the mutual interaction of both ATP sites in the absence (8,10,18,19) and presence of the transported cations (20) and on their distance. There are a great number of experiments favoring the idea that both ATP sites reside on different ␣-subunits (21, 22). But studies with detergent-solubilized Na ϩ /K ϩ -ATPase seem to contradict this assumption (13,23,24). Ward and Cavieres (13, 24) demonstrated that the detergent-solubilized putative (␣) promoter of Na ϩ /K ϩ -ATPase shows negative cooperativity of ATP hydrolysis. This finding is in conflict with the assumption of cooperating catalytic ␣-subunits during ATP hydrolysis but supports the possibility of two interacting ATP sites residing on the same catalytic ␣-subunit. The amino acid sequence forming the high affinity E 1 ATP site has been defined by affinity...