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The sodium pump needs its β subunit
Author(s) -
McDonough Alicia A.,
Geering Kathi,
Farley Robert A.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.4.6.2156741
Subject(s) - protein subunit , beta (programming language) , chemistry , g alpha subunit , sodium , atpase , glycoprotein , glycosylation , alpha (finance) , biophysics , membrane , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , enzyme , biology , gene , medicine , construct validity , nursing , organic chemistry , computer science , patient satisfaction , programming language
The sodium pump Na,K‐ATPase, located in the plasma membrane of all animal cells, is a member of a family of ion‐translocating ATPases that share highly homologous catalytic subunits. In this family, only Na,K‐ATPase has been established to be a heterodimer of catalytic (α) and glycoprotein (β) subunits. The β subunit has not been associated with the pump's transport or enzymatic activity, and its role in Na,K‐ATPase function has been, until recently, a puzzle. In this review we describe what is known about the structure of β and summarize evidence that expression of both a and β subunits is required for Na,K‐ATPase activity, that inhibition of glycosylation causes a decrease in accumulation of both α and β subunits, and we provide evidence that pretranslational up‐regulation of β alone can lead to increased abundance of sodium pumps. These findings are all consistent with the hypothesis that the β subunit regulates, through assembly of αβ heterodimers, the number of sodium pumps transported to the plasma membrane.— M c D onough , A. A.; G eering , K.; F arley , R. A. The sodium pump needs its β subunit. FASEB J. 4: 1598‐1605; 1990.