Adenine nucleotides directly stimulate pertussis toxin.

Both cholera toxin and pertussis toxin catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of purified bovine brain tubulin. The effect of cholera toxin was evident in the absence or presence of nucleotides. In contrast, pertussis toxin required adenine nucleotides for its ADP-ribosylating activity. ATP, ATP gamma S, App(NH)p, deoxy-ATP, and ADP all supported pertussis toxin-catalyzed ADP-ribosylations in the absence or presence of EDTA, suggesting that nucleotide hydrolysis was not involved. Adenine nucleotides also promoted pertussis toxin-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of heat-treated bovine serum albumin. This result suggests that adenine nucleotides directly affect pertussis toxin. ATP stimulation of pertussis toxin-catalyzed hydrolysis of NAD to ADP-ribose supports this hypothesis.