Membrane Transport in Isolated Vesicles from Sugarbeet Taproot

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Abstract
Sealed membrane vesicles were isolated from homogenates of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) taproot by a combination of differential centrifugation, extraction with KI, and dextran gradient centrifugation. Relative to the KI-extracted microsomes, the content of plasma membranes, mitochondrial membranes, and Golgi membranes was much reduced in the final vesicle fraction. A component of ATPase activity that was inhibited by nitrate co-enriched with the capacity of the vesicles to form a steady state pH gradient during the purification procedure. This suggests that the nitrate-sensitive ATPase may be involved in driving H+-transport, and this is consistent with the observation that H+-transport, in the final vesicle fraction was inhibited by nitrate. Proton transport in the sugarbeet vesicles was substrate specific for ATP, insensitive to sodium vanadate and oligomycin but was inhibited by diethylstilbestrol and N,N''-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. The formation of a pH gradient in the vesicles was enhanced by halide ions in the sequence 1- > Br- > Cl- while F- was inhibitory. These stimulatory effects occur from both a direct stimulation of the ATPase by anions and a reduction in the vesicle membrane potential. In the presence of Cl-, alkali cations reduce the pH gradient relative to that observed with bis-tris-propane, possibly by H+/alkali cation exchange. Based upon the properties of the H+-transporting vesicles, it is proposed that they are most likely derived from the tonoplast so that this vesicle preparation would represent a convenient system for studying the mechanism of transport at this membrane boundary.