A proton-translocating ATPase regulates pH of the bacterial cytoplasm

Abstract

Regulatory mechanisms of cytoplasmic pH in Streptococcus faecalis with no respiratory chain were investigated. In a mutant defective in cytoplasmic alkalization conducted by a proton-translocating ATPase (H+-ATPase), the cytoplasmic pH is approximately 0.4 to 0.5 pH units lower than the medium pH, at pH 5.5 to 9.0. The cytoplasmic pH of the wild-type strain was always higher than that of the mutant at a pH below 8 and was the same as that of the mutant at an alkaline pH over 8. Thus, the cytoplasmic pH is regulated only by the cytoplasmic alkalization, and there is no regulation at alkaline pH in S. faecalis. A generation of the protonmotive force conducted by the H+-ATPase depended on the cytoplasmic pH rather than the medium pH, and the generation decreased rapidly when the cytoplasmic pH was increased over 7.7. The decrease at alkaline pH was not caused by increases in the rate of proton influx. These results suggest that cytoplasmic alkalization is diminished when alkaline pH of the cytoplasm is over 7.7, because of a low activity of proton extrusion by the H+-ATPase, and consequently, the cytoplasmic pH is regulated at about 7.7. The cytoplasmic pH was regulated at a high level in cells that had a high level of H+-ATPase. I conclude that in S. faecalis, the cytoplasmic pH is regulated by H+-ATPase.