title: Quaternary structure of ATP synthases: symmetry and asymmetry in the F1 moiety.
abstract: It has been proposed that during ATP synthesis/hydrolysis F1 ATPases experience a complex pattern of nucleotide binding and release during the catalytic cycle (binding change mechanism). This type of mechanism has implications that can be correlated with the structure of the enzyme. F1-ATPases (stoichiometry alpha 3 beta 3 gamma delta epsilon) are essentially a symmetrical trimer of pairs of the major subunits (alpha and beta); the minor subunits (gamma, delta and epsilon) are in single copies and interact with the trimer in an asymmetrical fashion. The asymmetry introduced by the minor subunits has important structural and functional consequences: (1) it introduces differences between the potentially equivalent binding and catalytic sites in the major subunits, (2) it restricts the ways in which a binding change mechanism can occur, and (3) it governs the way in which the F1 interacts with the (asymmetrical) F0 sector.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Amzel
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bianchet
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Pedersen
mesh_terms: D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D006180:Proton-Translocating ATPases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D006180:Proton-Translocating ATPases