Evidence for the Direct Interaction Between Tightly Bound Divalent Metal Ion and ATP on Actin

Competition between Ca2+ and Mg2+ for binding to a single high affinity site on actin has been confirmed. Occupancy of this site only by either Ca2+ or Mg2+ affects the conformation of actin and its ability to form nuclei and hydrolyze ATP. G-actin binds the beta gamma-bidentate CrATP, a substitution inert analog of metal-ATP complexes, and shows a high specificity for the lambda isomers. Binding of CrATP to ADP-actin is accompanied by the dissociation of tightly bound ADP and Ca2+. CrATP-actin shows a high tendency to form nuclei, like MgATP-actin. Polymerization of CrATP-actin is accompanied by cleavage of the gamma-phosphate, but subsequent Pi release cannot occur because the product of the reaction is the stable CrADP-Pi complex. All these results support the view that the divalent metal ion tightly bound to actin interacts with the beta- and gamma-phosphates of ATP in the nucleotide site.