ADP/ATP Translocator from Pea Root Plastids (Comparison with Translocators from Spinach Chloroplasts and Pea Leaf Mitochondria)

The kinetic properties of the adenosine 5[prime]-diphosphate/adenosine 5[prime]-triphosphate (ADP/ATP) translocator from pea (Pisum sativum L.) root plastids were determined by silicone oil filtering centrifugation and compared with those of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) chloroplasts and pea leaf mitochondria. In addition, the ADP/ATP transporting activities from the above organelles were reconstituted into liposomes. The Km(ATP) value of the pea root ADP/ATP translocator was 10 [mu]M and that for ADP was 46 [mu]M. Corresponding values of the spinach ADP/ATP translocator were 25 [mu]M and 28 [mu]M, respectively. Comparable results were obtained for the reconstituted ATP transport activities. The transport was highly specific for ATP and ADP. Adenosine 5[prime]-monophosphate (AMP) caused only a slight inhibition and phosphoenolpyruvate and inorganic pyrophosphate caused no inhibition of ATP uptake. With pea root plastids and spinach chloroplasts, Km values >1 mM were obtained for ADP-glucose. Since the concentrations of ATP and ADP-glucose in the cytosolic compartment of spinach leaves have been determined as 2.5 and 0.6 mM, respectively, a transport of ADP-glucose by the ADP/ATP translocator does not appear to have any physiological significance in vivo. Although both the plastidial and the mitochondrial ADP/ATP translocators were inhibited to some extent by carboxyatractyloside, no immunological cross-reactivity was detected between the plastidial and the mitochondrial proteins. It seems probable that these proteins derive from different ancestors.