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. 1995 Apr;177(8):2227–2229. doi: 10.1128/jb.177.8.2227-2229.1995

Potassium/proton antiport system of growing Enterococcus hirae at high pH.

Y Kakinuma 1, K Igarashi 1
PMCID: PMC176872  PMID: 7721716

Abstract

The cytoplasmic pH (pHin) of Enterococcus hirae growing at pH 9.2 was maintained at about 8.1. Membrane-permeating amines such as ammonia alkalinized the pHin from 8.1 to 9.0 at a high concentration and induced K+ extrusion. The pHin alkalinization was transient; the pHin fell from 9.0 to the original value of pH 8.1, at which point K+ extrusion ceased, and remained constant. Cells accumulated ammonium ion to an extent stoichiometrically equivalent to the K+ loss. This bacterium continued to grow well under this condition. These results suggest that the pHin-responsive primary K+/H+ antiport system (Y. Kakinuma, and K. Igarashi, J. Biol. Chem. 263:14166-14170, 1988) works for the pHin regulation of this organism growing at a high pH.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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