Electrogenic pump activity in red beet: Its relation to ATP levels and to cation influx

Summary In storage tissue ofBeta vulgaris L., carbonyl cyanidem-chlorophenylhydrazone or cyanide+salicylhydroxamic acid reduce cell electropotentials from about –200 to below –100 mV. The relationship between potential and cellular ATP level is examined during treatment with different concentrations of inhibitiors. At low ATP levels the potential rises sharply with increases in ATP, but above an ATP level of approximately 50% of the uninhibited level the potential changes very little with ATP concentration. A plot of membrane potentialvs.⁸⁶Pb⁺ influx or of potentialvs. net K⁺ uptake indicates that as the level of inhibition is decreased, the potential tends to reach a limit while cation influx and net uptake continue to increase. Resistance measurements, although subject to difficulties of interpretation, indicate no change in conductance with potential, ion flux, or ATP level. Thus the membrane potential should directly reflect electrogenic pump activity, attributed to active uncoupled H⁺ efflux. K⁺ uptake can occur against its electrochemical gradient and is attributed to a coupled K⁺ influx/H⁺ efflux pump. The results show that the electrogenic pump activity is independent of the K⁺/H⁺ exchange rate. Thus electrogenic H⁺ efflux and K⁺/H⁺ exchange may represent different transport systems, or different modes of operation of a single pump with variable stoichiometry.