Significance of Urease Distribution across Helicobacter pylori Membrane

For heuristic purposes, the relative ratio of urease contents inside and outside cells was surveyed using nine ureB+ strains of Helicobacter pylori. the ratio of the enzyme specific activity appeared to vary greatly between the various H. pylori strains, ranging from 0.5 to 2.5. Besides the above compartment, urease was also richly found in the membrane fraction, especially in either peripheral or integral form. The urease distribution across the H. pylori membrane was significantly influenced by the ambient pH; the specific activity of external urease was highest at pH 5.5 with a narrow plateau, whereas the internal specific activity was highest within a pH range of 4.5 to 6.5 with a broad plateau. These finding strongly suggest that H. pylori urease is secretory and responded to the external pH. However, at pH 4.0 or below, no urease activity was detected in either the internal or external compartment, although an increase in the color development with 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonate (TNBS) was observed. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) demonstrated that these phenomena may be related to a specific proteolysis in certain proteins, including urease or ${\gamma}$-glutamyl transpeptidase. Interestingly, the effect of ammonium ions n alleviating the enzyme inactivation inside the H. pylori cells was remarkably similar to that of D-glucose. In addition, it would appear that the cation acted as a surrogate of not only $Na^+$ but also $K^+$ thereby increasing the H. pylori P-type ATPase activity. This is of great interest, as it implies that the urease action in H. pylori is indispensible at any locus.