Characterization of the interaction between the plasma membrane H + -ATPase of Arabidopsis thaliana and a novel interactor (PPI1) Corrado Viotti, Laura Luoni, Piero Morandini and Maria Ida De Michelis Dipartimento di Biologia ‘L. Gorini’, Universita ` di Milano, CNR Istituto di Biofisica – Sezione di Milano, Italy The H + -ATPase is the major electrogenic pump in the plasma membrane (PM) of plant cells. By pumping protons from the cytoplasm to the apoplast it gener- ates an electrochemical proton gradient, which drives the transport of mineral ions and organic solutes, and plays a crucial role in cytoplasmic and apoplastic pH homeostasis [1,2]. The PM H + -ATPase participates in a variety of physiological processes such as phloem loading, stomata opening, mineral nutrition, growth of root hairs and pollen tubes, salt and osmotolerance, leaf movements, and acid growth [1,2]. In vivo , its activity is modulated by several signals such as hor- mones (auxin, abscisic acid), light, water potential, acid load, toxins like fusicoccin (FC) and pathogens, but a molecular description of the mediators involved is missing for most of these signals [1,2]. Plant genomes contain a large family of PM H + - ATPase genes (12 in Arabidopsis thaliana, 10 in rice and nine in Nicotiana plumbaginifolia), which can be grouped in five clusters based on sequence alignments and intron positions [3,4]. Individual isoforms exhibit tissue- and developmental-specific expression patterns and a number of quantitative differences in catalytic and regulatory properties [1–4]. Thus, the first regula- tion of proton pumping activity in different cells types and physiological conditions takes place at both the transcriptional and translational levels [1–4]. As to post-translational regulation, the best-known mechanism described to date involves the auto-inhibi- tory action of the C-terminal domain. The plant PM H + -ATPase is a P-type ATPase with an extended (approximately 100 amino acids) cytosolic C-terminus containing two inhibitory regions. Proteolytic cleavage or genetic deletion of the C-terminus has little effect on enzyme activity at the acidic pH optimum (pH 6.4– 6.6), but markedly increases enzyme activity in the physiological range of cytoplasmic pH values (pH 7.0– 7.5), resulting in an alkaline shift of the pH optimum Keywords Arabidopsis thaliana;H + -ATPase; plasma membrane; PPI1; 14-3-3 proteins Correspondence M. I. De Michelis, Dipartimento di Biologia ‘L. Gorini’, Universita ` di Milano, CNR Istituto di Biofisica – Sezione di Milano, via G. Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy Fax: +39 02 50314815 Tel: +39 02 50314822 E-mail: mariaida.demichelis@unimi.it (Received 28 July 2005, revised 13 September 2005, accepted 20 September 2005) doi:10.1111/j.1742-4658.2005.04985.x Proton pump interactor, isoform 1 (PPI1) is a novel interactor of the C-ter- minus of Arabidopsis thaliana plasma membrane H + -ATPase (EC 3.6.3.6) (Morandini P, Valera M, Albumi C, Bonza MC, Giacometti S, Ravera G, Murgia I, Soave C & De Michelis MI (2002) Plant J 31, 487–497). We pro- duced two fusion proteins consisting of, respectively, the first 88 amino acids or the entire protein deleted of the last 24 hydrophobic amino acids, and we show that the latter protein has a threefold higher affinity for the H + -ATPase. PPI1-induced stimulation of H + -ATPase activity dramatically decreased with the increase of pH above pH 6.8, but became largely pH-independent when the enzyme C-terminus was displaced by fusicoccin- induced binding of 14-3-3 proteins. The latter treatment did not affect PPI1 affinity for the H + -ATPase. These results indicate that PPI1 can bind the H + -ATPase independently of the C-terminus conformation, but is not able to suppress the C-terminus auto-inhibitory action. Abbreviations Brij 58, polyoxyethilene 20 cethyl ether; BTP, bis tris propane {1,3-bis[tris(hydroxymethyl)methylamino]propane}; FC, fusicoccin; GST, glutathione S-transferase; IPTG, isopropyl thio-b- D-galactoside; NTA, nitrilotriacetic acid; PM, plasma membrane. 5864 FEBS Journal 272 (2005) 5864–5871 ª 2005 FEBS ([1] and references therein). The auto-inhibitory action of the C-terminus is suppressed, besides by pH, by lysophospholipids and by 14-3-3 proteins ([1] and ref- erences therein). The latter are regulatory proteins present in all eukaryotic systems which modulate the activity of a number of target proteins, generally bind- ing to sequence motifs including a phosphorylated Ser or Thr residue [5–8]. Phosphorylation of the highly conserved penultimate Thr residue of the PM H + -ATP- ase results in binding of 14-3-3 protein. 14-3-3 binding is stabilized by the fungal toxin FC which decreases the dissociation rate, thus inducing the formation of an almost irreversible complex in which the enzyme is locked in the same active conformation determined by cleavage of the C-terminus [1,9–16]. Also, blue-light activation of PM H + -ATPase in guard cells of broad beans involves protein kinase-mediated phosphoryla- tion of Ser and Thr residues in the C-terminus of the pump and 14-3-3 binding [17]. Much less is known about in vitro and in vivo activation by other effectors: an increase of PM-associated 14-3-3s has been observed also in response to cold or osmotic stress, and their binding to the H + -ATPase is suggested by the parallel increase of the number of FC-binding sites [18–20]. As to auxin, a soluble auxin receptor has been reported to bind and activate the PM H + -ATPase, but the site of binding has not been identified so far [21]. A novel interactor of the PM H + -ATPase C-termi- nus was identified in a two-hybrid screening. The novel protein, named PPI1 (proton pump interactor, isoform 1), is a 612 amino acids protein rich in charged and polar residues, except for the extreme C-terminus where it presents a hydrophobic stretch of 24 amino acids forming a putative transmembrane domain. PPI1 does not resemble any protein of known function, but it is probably the first identified member of a new fam- ily of plant regulatory proteins, as at least five A. thali- ana genes and many expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from different plant species encode proteins with signi- ficant similarity to PPI1 [22]. The N-terminal domain of PPI1, originally identified by the two-hybrid technique, binds A. thaliana PM H + -ATPase in overlay experiments and stimulates enzyme activity. The interaction is not suppressed by controlled tryptic cleavage of the enzyme, indicating that the PPI1 binding site in the H + -ATPase C-termi- nus is localized upstream of the main tryptic cleavage site and thus is different from the 14-3-3 binding site. Moreover, PPI1 further enhances FC-stimulated H + -ATPase activity [22]. Here we report a characterization of the interaction of PPI1 with the H + -ATPase in PM isolated from control and FC-treated A. thaliana cultured cells, which indicates that PPI1 is unable to suppress the auto-inhibitory action of the enzyme C-terminus, but further enhances the activity of the enzyme whose C-terminus has been displaced by low pH or by FC-induced binding of 14-3-3s. Results The C-terminus of isoform 1 of the PM H + -ATPase of A. thaliana (AHA1) interacts with the first 88 amino acids of PPI1 [22], indicating that the PM H + -ATPase binding site of PPI1 is localized therein. Indeed, fusion proteins containing the first 88 amino acids of PPI1, linked either to a His-tag (His 6 PPI1 88 ) or to GST, interact with A. thaliana H + -ATPase in the PM and stimulate its activity [22]. However, other parts of the protein may be important for regulation of the interac- tion. As the entire PPI1 protein was difficult to handle due to low solubility (unpublished results from the authors’ laboratory), we expressed in Escherichia coli a truncated protein devoid of the hydrophobic C-tail, with a His 6 -tag at the C-terminal end, far away from the interaction site (PPI1 588 His 6 ). The fusion protein was purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography and its ability to interact with the H + -ATPase C-terminus was tested against another fusion protein harboring the last 104 amino acids of AHA1 fused to GST, GST– AHA1(846–949). Figure 1 shows that PPI1 588 His 6 and GST–AHA1(846–949) bound each other in overlay experiments both when a membrane spotted with GST–AHA1(846–949) was incubated with PPI1 588 His 6 (Fig. 1A) and when PPI1 588 His 6 was spotted and the AB Fig. 1. Interaction between PPI1 588 His 6 and the C-terminus of A. thaliana PM H + -ATPase (AHA1). The indicated proteins were spotted and incubated with 1 l M PPI1 588 His 6 (A) or 1 lM GST– AHA(1846–948) (B) as described in Experimental procedures. Inter- action was detected by immunodecoration with antisera against the N-terminus of PPI1 (A) or the C-terminus of the H + -ATPase (B). His 6 –ACA8(1–116) reproduces the N-terminus of an A. thaliana PM Ca 2+ -ATPase [31]. Results are from one experiment, representative of three giving similar results. C. Viotti et al. Interaction between plasma membrane H + -ATPase and PPI1 FEBS Journal 272 (2005) 5864–5871 ª 2005 FEBS 5865 membrane incubated with GST–AHA1(846–949) (Fig. 1B); the signals were specific as no signal was detected when free GST was spotted and the membrane incubated with PPI1 588 His 6 (Fig. 1A) or when an un- related His-tagged protein was spotted and the mem- brane incubated with GST–AHA1(846–949) (Fig. 1B). The ability of PPI1 588 His 6 to activate the H + -ATP- ase in PM isolated from cultured A. thaliana cells was compared to that of His 6 PPI1 88 . Figure 2 shows that both proteins stimulated the H + -ATPase activity assayed at pH 6.4 in a concentration-dependent man- ner, but PPI1 588 His 6 was about threefold more effect- ive than His 6 PPI1 88 . The k 0.5 values evaluated from five independent experiments were 0.4 ± 0.1 lm for PPI1 588 His 6 and 1.7 ± 0.2 lm for His 6 PPI1 88 . Thus, all the following experiments were performed with PPI1 588 His 6 . The analysis of the effect of PPI1 588 His 6 on the dependence of PM H + -ATPase activity on the concen- tration of MgATP (Fig. 3) showed that stimulation decreased with the increase of PPI1 588 His 6 concentra- tion. Consequently, PPI1 588 His 6 only slightly increased V max but substantially lowered the apparent K m for MgATP. Activation of the PM H + -ATPase by cleavage or by displacement of the auto-inhibitory C-terminal domain is strongly pH-dependent, increasing with the increase of pH beyond the relatively acidic pH optimum of enzyme activity [1,23–26]. The dependence of H + -ATP- ase activation by PPI1 588 His 6 on the pH of the assay medium is completely different: Fig. 4 shows that the effect of PPI1 588 His 6 on H + -ATPase activity was very high at pH 6.0, but decreased with the increase of pH, virtually disappearing above pH 7.0. As a conse- quence, the pH optimum for enzyme activity is slightly more acidic in the presence of PPI1 588 His 6 than in its absence. A completely different picture emerged when the effect of PPI1 588 His 6 on H + -ATPase activity was assayed in PM isolated from FC-treated cells. FC determines a stable association of 14-3-3 proteins to the C-terminus of the H + -ATPase, locking the enzyme in an active conformation [9,10,12–16]. Consequently (Fig. 5), enzyme activity stayed high throughout the pH range examined (up to pH 7.1). Addition of PPI1 588 His 6 further enhanced the H + -ATPase activity in a pH-independent manner. The different conformation of the enzyme C-terminus in PM isolated from control or FC-treated cells may alter the accessibility of PPI1 588 His 6 . To test this possi- bility, we analyzed PPI1 588 His 6 -induced activation of Fig. 2. Stimulation of A. thaliana PM H + -ATPase activity as a func- tion of the concentration of His 6 PPI1 88 and PPI1 588 His 6 . PM treat- ment with the specified concentrations of His 6 PPI1 88 (closed triangles) or PPI1 588 His 6 (open triangles) and H + -ATPase activity assays were performed at pH 6.4. Results are given as percentage stimulation of H + -ATPase activity which in the absence of PPI1 was 665 nmolÆmin )1 Æmg protein )1 . Results are from one experi- ment, representative of five giving similar results. Fig. 3. Effect of PPI1 588 His 6 on the dependence of PM H + -ATPase activity on the concentration of MgATP. PM treatment with (open symbols) or without (closed symbols) 2 l M PPI1 588 His 6 and H + -ATP- ase activity assays (pH 6.4) were performed as described in Experi- mental procedures, except that ATP concentration was varied between 0.1 and 2 m M, as indicated, in the presence of a constant excess of 2 m M MgSO 4 . Results are from one experiment, repre- sentative of three giving similar results. The mean V max and ap- parent K m values were, respectively, 1.20 ± 0.04 lmolÆmin )1 Æmg protein )1 and 0.35 ± 0.05 mM in the absence and 1.37 ± 0.06 lmolÆmin )1 Æmg protein )1 and 0.13 ± 0.02 mM in the presence of PPI1 588 His 6 . Interaction between plasma membrane H + -ATPase and PPI1 C. Viotti et al. 5866 FEBS Journal 272 (2005) 5864–5871 ª 2005 FEBS the H + -ATPase in the two PM fractions as a function of PPI1 588 His 6 concentration. Assays were performed at pH 7.0 to ensure at the same time effective auto-inhibi- tion and reliable measurements of PPI1 effect in control PM. The results reported in Fig. 6 show that stimulation of the H + -ATPase activity in PM isolated from control or FC-treated cells similarly increased with the increase of PPI1 588 His 6 concentration; the k 0.5 values evaluated from three independent experiments were 0.24 ± 0.06 and 0.19 ± 0.02 lm, respectively, for control PM and PM from FC-treated cells. Discussion PPI1 is a modulator of the plasma membrane H + - ATPase, which binds the enzyme C-terminus and stimu- lates its activity [22]. The available preliminary evidence indicates that its mechanism of action is different from that of 14-3-3 proteins, the best known modulators of the autoinhibitory action of the enzyme C-terminus ([1,22] and references therein), proposing PPI1 as a novel mechanism of regulation which could play an important role in the subtle modulation of proton extru- sion in response to endogenous or exogenous signals. The two-hybrid screen for interactors of the C-termi- nus of AHA1 led to the isolation of a cDNA fragment encoding the first 88 amino acids of PPI1 [22]. This result, together with the finding that fusion proteins containing the first 88 amino acids of PPI1 linked to an His-tag (His 6 PPI1 88 ) or to GST interact with A. thaliana H + -ATPase in the PM and stimulate its activity [22], suggested that the site of interaction with the PM H + -ATPase was localized in the N-terminus of PPI1. To further characterize the biological activity Fig. 4. pH dependence of the activation of A. thaliana PM H + -ATP- ase by PPI1 588 His 6 . PM treatment with (open symbols) or without (closed symbols) 2 l M PPI1 588 His 6 and H + -ATPase activity assays were performed at the specified pHs. Results are from one experi- ment, representative of three giving similar results. Fig. 5. pH dependence of the activation of A. thaliana H + -ATPase in PM purified from FC-treated cultured cells by PPI1 588 His 6 .PM treatment with (open symbols) or without (closed symbols) 2 l M PPI1 588 His 6 and H + -ATPase activity assays were performed at the specified pHs. Results are from one experiment, representative of three giving similar results. Fig. 6. Dependence on the concentration of PPI1 588 His 6 of the sti- mulation of H + -ATPase activity in PM purified from control and FC-treated cultured cells. Assays were performed at pH 7.0. Results are given as percentage stimulation of H + -ATPase activity which in the absence of PPI1 was 261 (control, open triangles) and 507 (FC-treated, closed triangles) nmolÆmin )1 Æmg protein )1 . Results are from one experiment, representative of three giving similar results. C. Viotti et al. Interaction between plasma membrane H + -ATPase and PPI1 FEBS Journal 272 (2005) 5864–5871 ª 2005 FEBS 5867 of PPI1 we produced a new fusion protein, containing the PPI1 protein devoid only of the last 24 amino acids, a putative transmembrane domain (PPI1 588 His 6 ); the His-tag was fused to the protein C-terminus, to minimize its effects on the conformation of the protein N-terminus. The results reported in this paper show that this fusion protein has an affinity for the H + - ATPase threefold higher than that of His 6 PPI1 88 . This result suggests that residues downstream of the first 88 amino acids of PPI1 may participate in the interaction with the H + -ATPase and makes PPI1 588 His 6 a suitable tool to study the mechanism of action of PPI1. The analysis of the pH dependence of PPI1- induced activation of the H + -ATPase showed that stimulation decreases dramatically with the increase of pH above pH 6.8; PPI1-induced activation of the H + -ATPase becomes pH-independent in PM isolated from FC-treated cells. At pH values above the opti- mum for H + -ATPase activity, the C-terminus exerts its auto-inhibitory action, presumably by binding to an intramolecular site [1,23–27]; thus, it might ham- per the access of PPI1 588 His 6 . FC-induced binding of 14-3-3 displaces the C-terminus [1,9–16] and thus might facilitate the binding of PPI1. However, the k 0.5 value for the PPI1–H + -ATPase interaction at pH 7.0 was at least as low as at pH 6.4 and not affected by FC-induced 14-3-3 binding, indicating that the affinity of the H + -ATPase for PPI1 588 His 6 is not altered by the conformation of the C-termi- nus. These results indicate that (Fig. 7) PPI1, in response to an as yet unidentified signal, can interact with the PM H + -ATPase independently from its activation state, but is not able to suppress the auto- inhibitory action of the C-terminal domain. PPI1 can only hyper-activate H + -ATPase molecules whose C-terminus has been displaced by other factors such as low pH or 14-3-3 proteins. Experimental procedures Strains, media and general techniques Escherichia coli XL10 (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA, USA) was used for recombinant DNA work while BL21(DE3)pLysS (Novagen, Madison, WI, USA) and BL21(DE3) Codon plus TM pRil strains (Stratagene) were employed as hosts for protein expression. All strains were grown in Lennox broth base (Gibco BRL, Rockville, MD, USA). Bacterial transformation was according to the protocol of [28]. Soluble proteins were assayed with the Bio-Rad protein assay (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) with c-glob- ulin as a standard, while membrane proteins were assayed according to [29] with bovine serum albumin as a standard. Plasmid construction A DNA fragment coding for the first 588 amino acids of PPI1 protein was amplified from clones isolated previously [22] using the following primers: gatggatcccatATGGGTG TTGAAGTTGTA annealing around the start codon of the Ppi1 ORF and gactcgagATTAGTCGACTTCTTACGC annealing just before the putative transmembrane domain (capital letter in the sequence represent nucleotides match- ing target sequence). The PCR product was cloned into pET-32b plasmid (Novagen) deleted of the thioredoxin gene, using NdeI and XhoI restriction sites. The resulting plasmid was transferred into E. coli strain XL10 and the frame and the identity of the cloned fragment verified by sequencing. The construct with the N-terminal portion of PPI1 has been previously described [22]. The DNA fragment coding for the last 104 amino acids (Ser846–Val949) of AHA1 was amplified from EST clones 49E5 from Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC, Ohio State University, OH, USA) using the following prim- ers: ggatcccatatgAGCGGAAAGGCGTGG and ggatcctca CACAGTGTAGTGA. The PCR product was cloned into pGEX-2TK vector for fusion to GST, using the BamHI restriction site. The frame and identity of the PCR product were checked by sequencing. Protein expression and purification The plasmid encoding the PPI1 protein truncated of its ter- minal 24 hydrophobic amino acids with a His 6 -tag at its C-terminus (PPI1 588 His 6 ) was transformed into BL21(DE3) Fig. 7. Schematic model of the mechanism of action of PPI1 on the PM H + -ATPase. Interaction between plasma membrane H + -ATPase and PPI1 C. Viotti et al. 5868 FEBS Journal 272 (2005) 5864–5871 ª 2005 FEBS Codon plus TM pRil strain (Stratagene) and its expression was induced in liquid cultures at 37 °C (0.6–0.7 D 595 ) with 1mm isopropyl thio-b-d-galactoside (IPTG). After 1 h of induction, cells were cooled on ice, centrifuged and stored at )80 °C. Cells pellets were lysed in the presence of 0.4% N-lauroyl sarcosine [30] and sonicated until a clear, non viscous solution was obtained. Particulate matters were removed by centrifugation (15 min at 12 000 g) and the sol- uble fraction loaded onto a Ni 2+ -NTA agarose affinity col- umn. Protein was purified essentially as described by the Ni-NTA supplier (Qiagen, Milan, Italy). Eluted fractions were monitored by SDS ⁄ PAGE, pooled and concentrated by centrifugation with Vivaspin 15R (cut-off 30 kDa; Viva- science AG, Hannover, Germany). Imidazole was removed by repeated cycles of concentration-dilution with 1 mm BTP-Hepes pH 8.0, glycerol 10% (w ⁄ v) Brij 58 (Aldrich, Milwaukee, WI, USA) was added to the sample (0.1 mgÆmL )1 ) in the first concentration cycle. The expression of the N-terminal portion of the pro- tein (His 6 PPI1 88 ) was done in the same conditions of PPI1 588 His 6 , but with 3 h of induction. Protein was purified essentially as described by the Ni-NTA supplier (Qiagen). Eluted fractions were monitored by SDS ⁄ PAGE, pooled and concentrated by centrifugation with Vivaspin 6 (cut-off 5 kDa; Vivascience AG). Imidazole was removed as des- cribed above. The C-terminus of AHA1 fused to GST, GST– AHA(1846–949) was expressed in E. coli strain BL21(DE3)- Codon plus TM pRIL (Stratagene). Cells were grown at 37 °C until D 595 of 0.6 was reached, then 1 mm IPTG was added and the culture grown for 2 h. GST–AHA(1846–949) was purified by affinity chromatography on Glutathione Sepharose 4B gel (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, NJ, USA). The purification procedure was performed under native conditions as described in the manufacturer instruc- tions except for the addition of 0.1% (w ⁄ v) lysozyme and 0.5% (v ⁄ v) Triton X-100 during cell lysis. His 6 -ACA8 1)116 was produced as described by Luoni et al. [31]. Plant material and isolation of PM vesicles Cell suspension cultures of A. thaliana ecotype Landsberg were grown as described in [32]. In vivo treatment with FC was performed for 120 min by adding the phytotoxin to the culture medium at the final concentration of 10 lm. Cells were harvested by a double centrifugation at 1000 g for 5 min; highly purified PM fractions were obtained by a two-step aqueous two-phase partitioning system as des- cribed in Olivari et al. [15]. Overlay experiments The interaction between PPI1 588 His 6 and the C-terminus of the PM H + -ATPase was tested both by incubating with PPI1 588 His 6 a membrane on which GST–AHA(1846–949) (5 lm) had been spotted, and, vice versa, by incubating with GST–AHA(1846–949) a membrane on which PPI1 588 His 6 (3 lm) had been spotted. Fusion proteins were spotted (2 lL of each) onto 0.2 lm nitrocellulose and incubated for 3 h at room temperature in blocking solution [1% (w ⁄ v) bovine serum albumin (BSA), 0.2 mm EGTA, 50 mm KNO 3 ,2mm MgSO 4 ,5mm (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , 0.1 mm ammo- nium molybdate, 40 mm BTP ⁄ Mes pH 6.4]. Membranes on which GST–AHA(1846–949) was spotted were incubated for 2 h at room temperature in the same blocking solution with the addition of 1 lm PPI1 588 His 6 and interaction was detected by immunodecoration with antiserum against the N-terminus of PPI1. Membranes on which PPI1 588 His 6 was spotted were incubated for 2 h at room temperature in the same blocking solution with the addition of 1 lm GST– AHA(1846–949) and interaction was detected by immuno- decoration with antiserum against the C-terminus of the H + -ATPase. The antiserum against the N-terminus of PPI1 was raised in rabbit using His 6 PPI1 88 as antigene. Immuno- decoration was performed by incubating the membrane for 2 h at room temperature with the antiserum diluted 1 : 1000 in 20 mMTris ⁄ HCl pH 7.4, 150 mm NaCl, 3% (w ⁄ v) BSA and 0.1% (v ⁄ v) Tween20. The antiserum against the C-terminus of the H + -ATPase was raised in rabbit using as antigene the highly conserved sequence Arg912– Tyr943 of A. thaliana proton pump isoform 2 (AHA2) con- jugated to ovalbumin. Immunodecoration was performed by incubating the membrane for 2 h at room temperature with the antiserum diluted 1 : 1000 in 20 mMTris ⁄ HCl pH 7.4, 150 mm NaCl, 3% (w ⁄ v) BSA and 0.1% (v ⁄ v) Tween20. After several washes, signal detection was per- formed with an ECL anti-rabbit IgG linked to horseradish peroxidase (Amersham Biosciences) diluted 1 : 5000 in the same solution reported above. PM H + -ATPase activity Unless otherwise specified, PM H + -ATPase activity was assayed in 0.2 mm EGTA, 50 mm KNO 3 , 2.3 mm MgSO 4 , 5mm (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , 0.1 mm ammonium molybdate, 1 lgÆmL )1 oligomycin, 100 lgÆmL )1 Brij 58, 5 lm carbonyl cyanide p-trifluromethoxy-phenylhydrazone, buffered with 40 mm BTP-Mes (pH 6.4–6.8) or BTP-Hepes (pH 7–7.3), 2 unitsÆmL )1 pyruvate kinase, 2 mm phosphoenolpyruvate and 0.3 mm ATP. Plasma membranes (0.5–1 lg protein) were incubated at 0 °C for 15 min with or without the specified PPI1 fusion proteins in 90 lL of assay medium in absence of ATP, pyruvate kinase and phosphoenolpyruvate; all samples con- tained the same volume of 1 mm BTP-Hepes pH 8.0, 10% glycerol. The volume was then adjusted to 100 lL with assay medium containing ATP, pyruvate kinase and phos- phoenolpyruvate and the reaction was carried out for 60 min at 30 °C. Released P i was determined as described C. Viotti et al. Interaction between plasma membrane H + -ATPase and PPI1 FEBS Journal 272 (2005) 5864–5871 ª 2005 FEBS 5869 in De Michelis and Spanswick [33]. The PM H + -ATPase activity was evaluated as the difference between total activ- ity and that measured in the presence of 100 lm vanadate (less than 10% of total activity at pH 7; less than 5% of total activity at pH 6.4). Reported data are the results from one experiment with three replicates representative of at least three experiments; SE of the assays did not exceed 3% of the measured value. Acknowledgements This project was supported by the Italian Ministry for Instruction, University and Research in the FIRB 2001 frame. References 1 Palmgren MG (2001) Plant plasma membrane H + -ATPases: powerhouses for nutrient uptake. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 52, 817–845. 2 Sondegaard TE, Schulz A & Palmgren MG (2004) Ener- gization of transport processes in plants: roles of the plasma membrane H + -ATPase. Plant Physiol 136, 2475–2482. 3 Arango M, Ge ´ vaudant F, Oufattole M & Boutry M (2003) The plasma membrane proton pump ATPase: the significance of gene subfamilies. Planta 216, 355–365. 4 Baxter I, Tchieu J, Sussman MR, Boutry M, Palmgren MG, Gribskov M, Harper JF & Axelsen KB (2003) Genomic comparison of P-type ATPase ion pumps in Arabidopsis and rice. Plant Physiol 132, 618–628. 5 Aducci P, Camoni L, Marra M & Visconti S (2002) From cytosol to organelles: 14-3-3 proteins as multifunctional regulators of plant cell. IUBMB Life 53, 49–55. 6 Fu H & Subramanian RR & Masters SC (2000) 14-3-3 proteins: structure, function and regulation. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 40, 617–647. 7 Roberts MR (2000) Regulatory 14-3-3 protein–protein interactions in plant cells. Curr Opin Plant Biol 3, 400– 405. 8 Tzivion G & Avruch J (2002) 14-3-3 proteins: active cofactors in cellular regulation by serine ⁄ threonine phosphorylation. J Biol Chem 277, 3161–3064. 9 Baunsgaard L, Venema K, Axelsen KB, Villalba JM & Welling A (1996) Modified plant plasma membrane HC-ATPase with improved transport coupling efficiency identified by mutant selection in yeast. Plant J 10, 451– 458. 10 Fuglsang AT, Visconti S, Drumm K, Jahn T, Stensballe A, Mattei B, Jensen ON, Aducci P & Palmgren MG (1999) Binding of 14-3-3 protein to the plasma mem- brane H + -ATPase AHA2 involves the three C-terminal residues Tyr 946 -Thr-Val and requires phosphorylation of Thr 947 . J Biol Chem 274, 36774–36780. 11 Fuglsang AT, Borch J, Bych K, Jahn TP, Roepstorff P & Palmgren MG (2003) The binding site for regulatory 14-3-3 protein in plant plasma membrane H + -ATPase: involvement of a region promoting phosphorylation– independent interaction in addition to the phosphoryla- tion-dependent C-terminal end. J Biol Chem 278, 42266–42272. 12 Jahn T, Fuglsang AT, Olsson A, Bruntrup IM, Collinge DB, Volkmann D, Sommarin M, Palmgren MG & Larsson C (1997) The 14-3-3 protein interacts directly with the C-terminal region of the plant plasma mem- brane HC-ATPase. Plant Cell 9, 1805–1814. 13 Oecking C, Piotrowski M, Hagermeier J & Hagemann K (1997) Topology and target interaction of the fusicoc- cin-binding 14-3-3 homologs of Commelina communis. Plant J 12, 441–453. 14 Olivari C, Meanti C, De Michelis MI & Rasi-Caldogno F (1998) Fusicoccin binding to its plasma membrane receptor and the activation of the plasma membrane H + -ATPase. IV. Fusicoccin induces the association between the plasma membrane H + -ATPase and the fusicoccin receptor. Plant Physiol 116, 529–537. 15 Olivari C, Albumi C, Pugliarello MC & De Michelis MI (2000) Phenylarsine oxide inhibits the fusicoccin-induced activation of plasma membrane H + -ATPase. Plant Physiol 122, 463–470. 16 Svennelid F, Olsson A, Piotrowski M, Rosenquist M, Ottman C, Larsson C, Oecking C & Sommarin M (1999) Phosphorylation of Thr-948 at the C terminus of the plasma membrane H + -ATPase creates a binding site for the regulatory 14-3-3 protein. Plant Cell 11, 2379– 2391. 17 Kinoshita T & Shimazaki K (1999) Blue light activates the plasma membrane H + -ATPase by phosphorylation of the C terminus in stomatal guard cells. EMBO J 18, 5548–5558. 18 Babakov AV, Chelysheva VV, Klychnikov OI, Zorin- yanz SE, Trofimova M & De Boer AH (2000) Involve- ment of 14-3-3 proteins in the osmotic regulation of H + -ATPase in plant plasma membrane. Planta 211, 446–448. 19 Chelysheva VV, Smolenskaya IN, Trofimova M, Babakov AV & Muromtsev GS (1999) Role of 14-3-3 proteins in the regulation of H + -ATPase activity in plasma membrane of suspension-cultured sugar beet cells under cold stress. FEBS Lett 456, 22–26. 20 Kerkeb L, Venema K, Donaire JP & Rodriguez-Rosales MP (2002) Enhanced H + ⁄ ATP coupling ratio of H + - ATPase and increased 14-3-3 protein content in plasma membrane of tomato cells upon osmotic shock. Physiol Plant 116, 37–41. 21 Kim YS, Min JK, Kim D & Jung J (2001) A soluble auxin binding protein, ABP57: purification with anti- Bovine serum albumin antibody and characterization Interaction between plasma membrane H + -ATPase and PPI1 C. Viotti et al. 5870 FEBS Journal 272 (2005) 5864–5871 ª 2005 FEBS of its mechanistic role in auxin effect on plant plasma membrane H + -ATPase. J Biol Chem 276, 10730– 10736. 22 Morandini P, Valera M, Albumi C, Bonza MC, Gia- cometti S, Ravera G, Murgia I, Soave C & De Michelis MI (2002) A novel interaction partner for the C-termi- nus of Arabidopsis thaliana plasma membrane H + -ATP- ase (AHA1 isoform): site and mechanism of action on H + -ATPase activity differ from those of 14-3-3 pro- teins. Plant J 31, 487–497. 23 De Michelis MI, Papini R & Pugliarello MC (1997) Multiple effects of lysophosphatidylcholine on the activ- ity of the plasma membrane H + -ATPase of radish seed- lings. Bot Acta 110, 43–48. 24 Johansson F, Sommarin M & Larsson C (1993) Fusi- coccin activates the plasma membrane H + -ATPase by a mechanism involving the C-terminal inhibitory domain. Plant Cell 5, 321–327. 25 Rasi-Caldogno F, Pugliarello MC, Olivari C & De Michelis MI (1993) Controlled proteolysis mimics the effect of fusicoccin on the plasma membrane H + -ATP- ase. Plant Physiol 103, 391–398. 26 Regenberg B, Villalba JM, Lanfermeijer FC & Palmgren MG (1995) C-terminal deletion analysis of plant plasma membrane H + -ATPase: yeast as model system for sol- ute transport across the plasma membrane. Plant Cell 7, 1655–1666. 27 Palmgren MG, Sommarin M, Serrano R & Larsson C (1991) Identification of an auto-inhibitory domain in the C-terminal region of the plant plasma membrane H + -ATPase. J Biol Chem 266, 20470–20475. 28 Inoue H, Nojima H & Okayama H (1990) High effi- ciency transformation of Escherichia coli with plasmids. Gene 96, 23–28. 29 Markwell MAK, Haas SM, Bieber LL & Tolbert NE (1978) A modification of the Lowry procedure to sim- plify protein determination in membrane and lipopro- tein samples. Anal Biochem 87, 206–210. 30 Frangioni JV & Neel BG (1993) Solubilization and puri- fication of enzymatically active glutathione S-transferase (pGEX) fusion proteins. Anal Biochem 210, 179–187. 31 Luoni L, Meneghelli S, Bonza MC & De Michelis MI (2004) Auto-inhibition of Arabidopsis thaliana plasma membrane Ca 2+ –ATPase involves an interaction of the N-terminus with the small cytoplasmic loop. FEBS Lett 574, 20–24. 32 Curti G, Massardi F & Lado P (1993) Synergistic acti- vation of plasma membrane H + -ATPase in Arabidopsis thaliana cells by turgor decrease and by fusicoccin. Physiol Plant 87, 592–600. 33 De Michelis MI & Spanswick RM (1986) H + -pumping driven by the vanadate-sensitive ATPase in membrane vesicles from corn roots. Plant Physiol 81, 542–547. C. Viotti et al. Interaction between plasma membrane H + -ATPase and PPI1 FEBS Journal 272 (2005) 5864–5871 ª 2005 FEBS 5871 . Characterization of the interaction between the plasma membrane H + -ATPase of Arabidopsis thaliana and a novel interactor (PPI1) Corrado Viotti, Laura. of Arabidopsis thaliana plasma membrane H + -ATPase (EC 3.6.3.6) (Morandini P, Valera M, Albumi C, Bonza MC, Giacometti S, Ravera G, Murgia I, Soave C &