Movement of ions and electrogenesis in microorganisms.
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Bacterial Physiological Phenomena↗
Biomedical subjects
C L Slayman
Publications and source records attributed to C L Slayman.
Net uptake of potassium in Neurospora. Exchange for sodium and hydrogen ions.
Net uptake of potassium by low K, high Na cells of Neurospora at pH 5.8 is accompanied by net extrusion of sodium and hydrogen ions. The amount of potassium taken up by the cells is matched by the sum of sodium and hydrogen ions lost, under a variety of conditions: prolonged preincubation, partial respiratory inhibition (DNP), and lowered [K](o). All three fluxes are exponential with time and obey Michaelis kinetics as functions of [K](o). The V(max) for net potassium uptake, 22.7 mmoles/kg cell water/min, is very close to that for K/K exchange reported previously (20 mmoles/kg cell water/min). However, the apparent K(m) for net potassium uptake, 11.8 mM [K](o), is an order of magnitude larger than the value (1 mM) for K/K exchange. It is suggested that a single transport system handles both net K uptake and K/K exchange, but that the affinity of the external site for potassium is influenced by the species of ion being extruded.
Biological Transport, Active↗
Membrane potential and conductance during transport of sodium, potassium and rubidium in frog muscle.
1. Muscles with high intracellular sodium concentrations can extrude sodium into solutions which contain 10 m-equiv/l. of either potassium or rubidium. Potassium or rubidium replaces the extruded intracellular sodium. These cation movements take place equally well when the external anion is chloride or sulphate, though muscles deteriorate if left for long periods in sulphate solutions.2. Measurements of intracellular potentials during extrusion of sodium into solutions containing potassium show:(a) an internal potential more negative than the potassium equilibrium potential (E(K)); at 20 degrees C the difference is nearly 20 mV.(b) that a difference between the membrane potential and E(K) is dependent on temperature and is abolished by 10(-5)M ouabain.(c) an internal potential which becomes more negative in the presence of 0.1% cocaine, a concentration of cocaine which substantially increases the membrane resistance to potassium movement. In the absence of potassium or rubidium no such hyperpolarization occurs.3. When muscles extrude into solutions which contain rubidium they have internal potentials which are 10-20 mV more negative than when extruding sodium into corresponding solutions containing potassium.4. Measurements of electrical conductance in the potassium solution suggest that the electrochemical potential difference for potassium ions may be large enough to account for the measured inward potassium movements during sodium extrusion. The reliability of the measurements does not, however, exclude the possibility that some part of the inward potassium movement is chemically linked to outward movement.5. Measurements of membrane conductance in solutions containing rubidium, and of net movements of rubidium in the presence and absence of ouabain, lead to the conclusion that at least 90% of the inward rubidium movement during sodium extrusion must be chemically linked to the sodium movement.6. The hyperpolarization during extrusion of sodium could be explained on the basis of a fall of the potassium or rubidium concentration in a region of the extracellular space immediately external to the membrane. It is argued that certain characteristics of the hyperpolarization make it difficult to explain the hyperpolarization on this basis alone, though some part of it may be due to extracellular depletion of either potassium or rubidium.The main conclusion is that the sodium pump is capable of transferring electric charge across the membrane in which it is operating, but that, in a given time, the net charge transferred is less than the charge on the sodium ions that the pump has transported, by an amount that corresponds to the charge on the potassium or rubidium ions chemically transported by the pump.
Animals↗
Electrical properties of Neurospora crassa. Effects of external cations on the intracellular potential.
Glass micropipette electrodes have been employed to study the transsurface potential difference of Neurospora crassa. For mature hyphae grown in agar cultures, the internal potential is large and negative, often exceeding -200 mv. The potential is sensitive to the concentrations of extracellular potassium, sodium, hydrogen, and calcium ions, but does not vary in a manner which is readily explained by ionic diffusion potentials. With extracellular solutions containing only potassium chloride (or sulfate) and sucrose, the internal potential shifts toward zero (becomes less negative) at 45 mv per tenfold increase of potassium, over the range 0.1 to 10 mM. A similar result has been found with sodium, though the slope is only 33 mv/log unit. Calcium (1 mM) diminishes the influence of potassium and sodium by 60 to 70 per cent. As potassium or sodium is raised above 20 mM, the slope of the internal potential increases sharply to 85 to 90 mv/log unit, both in the presence and absence of calcium. With increasing hydrogen ion concentration, too, the internal potential shifts toward zero; in this case the slope is about 12 mv/pH unit at pH 9 and rises smoothly to 33 mv/pH unit at pH 3. All these phenomena are probably properties of the plasma membrane. The polysaccharide cell wall contains few fixed negative charges, has a low transverse resistance, and supports very little potential difference when separated from the plasma membrane.
Calcium↗
Electrical properties of Neurospora crassa. Respiration and the intracellular potential.
The internal potential of Neurospora appears to have two components, one (a) which is reduced by anoxia or abolished by respiratory inhibitors such as azide and 2,4-dinitrophenol, and (b) a fraction that remains in the presence of respiratory inhibitors and is sensitive to the external potassium concentration. Under standard conditions 1 mM azide or dinitrophenol diminishes internal potentials from near -200 mv to about -30 mv within 1 minute and at a maximal rate of 20 mv/second. The internal potential usually recovers within 10 minutes after the inhibitor has been removed. The effect of carbon monoxide on the internal potential is similar to that of azide or dinitrophenol, but can be reversed by visible light, specifically of the wavelengths (430 mmicro and 590 mmicro) known to decompose cytochrome-CO complexes in yeast. Respiration and internal potentials vary proportionally with azide concentration, but dinitrophenol at low (3 x 10(-6)M) concentrations enhances oxygen consumption without affecting the internal potential. In the presence of 0.1 mM calcium, the fraction of the internal potential which persists during respiratory inhibition increases (becomes more negative) about 30 mv for each tenfold decrease of external potassium over the range 10 to 0.1 mM. The surface resistivity of Neurospora, normally about 5000 ohm.cm(2), is unchanged by respiratory inhibitors during the period of rapid potential shift.
Antimetabolites↗