Abstract
The sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA) transports two Ca(2+) ions from the cytoplasm to the reticulum lumen at the expense of ATP hydrolysis. In addition to transporting Ca(2+), SERCA facilitates bidirectional proton transport across the sarcoplasmic reticulum to maintain the charge balance of the transport sites and to balance the charge deficit generated by the exchange of Ca(2+). Previous studies have shown the existence of a transient water-filled pore in SERCA that connects the Ca(2+) binding sites with the lumen, but the capacity of this pathway to sustain passive proton transport has remained unknown. In this study, we used the multiscale reactive molecular dynamics method and free energy sampling to quantify the free energy profile and timescale of the proton transport across this pathway while also explicitly accounting for the dynamically coupled hydration changes of the pore. We find that proton transport from the central binding site to the lumen has a microsecond timescale, revealing a novel passive cytoplasm-to-lumen proton flow beside the well-known inverse proton countertransport occurring in active Ca(2+) transport. We propose that this proton transport mechanism is operational and serves as a functional conduit for passive proton transport across the sarcoplasmic reticulum.