Detergent structure and Associated Lipid as Determinants in the Stabilization of Solubilized Ca2+-ATPase from Sarcoplasmic Reticulum

The properties of detergents required to substitute the lipid environment of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase with retention of good functional properties were determined by the use of a large number of diverse detergents and delipidated enzyme. Detergents having an intermediate chain length (approximately equal to C12) and a polyoxyethylene glycol or carbohydrate polar group were optimal for Ca2+-ATPase function and stabilization, while detergents with short alkyl chain (C8) or bulky head groups and many zwitterionic detergents led to rapid inactivation. Under optimal conditions (including solubilization in the E1 state), stability of delipidated Ca2+-ATPase approximated that obtained by solubilization of Ca2+-ATPase with a layer of bound lipid. Some detergents (in particular long chain members of the Tween family) were characterized by an inadequate interaction with delipidated Ca2+-ATPase, resulting in biphasic inactivation. According to analytical ultracentrifugation and high performance liquid chromatography experiments, the rapid and slow components of biphasic inactivation were due to the formation of monomeric and oligomeric Ca2+-ATPase, respectively. It is concluded that both hydrophobic and polar interactions are important for the detergent effect and that solubilizing detergents of intermediate and short chain length may be bound as a monolayer, differently than the membrane lipid. Long chain detergents cause protein aggregation and, despite their resemblance to natural lipids, are inferior in their activity-retaining properties. The previous use of such detergents to prepare oligomeric Ca2+-ATPase with long term retention of activity (cf. Møller, J. V., Anderson, J. P., and le Maire, M. (1988) Methods Enzymol. 157, 261-270) is shown to depend on the presence of residual lipid in these preparations.