Na+/H+ antiporters, molecular devices that couple the Na+ and H+ circulation in cells

Biodesalination using halophytic cyanobacterium Phormidium keutzingianum from brackish to the hypersaline water

The biodesalination potential at different levels of salinity of Phormidium keutzingianum (P. keutzingianum) was investigated. A wide range of salinity from brackish to hypersaline water was explored in this study to ensure the adaptability of P. keutzingianum in extreme stress conditions. Brackish to hypersaline salt solutions were tested at selected NaCl concentrations 10, 30, 50, and 70 g.L-1. Chloride, pH, nitrate, and phosphate were the main parameters measured throughout the duration of the experiment. Biomass growth estimation revealed that the studied strain is adaptable to all the salinities inoculated. During the first growth phase (till day 20), chloride ion was removed up to 43.52% and 45.69% in 10 and 30 g.L-1 of salinity, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry analysis performed on P. keutzingianum showed the presence of active functional groups at all salinity levels, which resulted in biosorption leading to the bioaccumulation process. Samples for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis supported with electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis (EDS) showed NaCl on samples already on day 0. This ensures the occurrence of the biosorption process. SEM-EDS results on 10th d showed evidence of additional ions deposited on the outer surface of P. keutzingianum. Calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, chloride, phosphorus, and iron were indicated in SEM-EDS analysis proving the occurrence of the biomineralization process. These findings confirmed that P. keutzingianum showed biomass production, biosorption, bioaccumulation, and biomineralization in all salinities; hence, the strain affirms the biodesalination process.

Unprecedented biodesalination rates-Shortcomings of electrical conductivity measurements in determining salt removal by algae and cyanobacteria

Phormidium keutzingianum performed biodesalination of brackish water (10 g/L). The electrical conductivity (EC) was measured to evaluate the salt concentration over 80 days of cyanobacterial inoculation. Anion concentrations were measured using ion chromatography to estimate salt removal. EC-based measurements showed ∼8-10% removal efficiency in the first 20 days. However, the removal efficiency based on chloride ion concentration showed ∼40% removal in the same time frame. The pH increase was observed with growth of algal biomass. The increasing pH proposes the formation of hydroxyl and carbonate ions. Sulfuric acid was added at day 110 to neutralize them. At pH 4, the EC reduced significantly to about ∼37% confirming the chloride removal. EC should not be used to measure salt reduction as it is an obscure parameter, and therefore, EC is not the best choice to measure salinity removal using algae. Some recently published studies used only EC to estimate biodesalination, and it is anticipated that salt removal is misrepresented in those studies.

Paraliobacillus salinarum sp. nov., isolated from saline soil in Yingkou, China

A novel Gram-stain-positive, facultatively aerobic, slightly halophilic, endospore-forming bacterium, designated G6-18^T, was isolated from saline soil collected in Yingkou, Liaoning, PR China. Cells of strain G6-18^T grew at 10-37 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 8.0) and in the presence of 2-15 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 5 %). The strain could be clearly distinguished from the related species of the genus Paraliobacillus by its phylogenetic position and biochemical characteristics. It presented MK-7 as the major quinone and the dominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C_16 : 0, anteiso-C_15 : 0, C_16 : 0 and iso-C_14 : 0. The polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol as the major components. The G+C content of strain G6-18^T genome was 35.3 mol%. 16S rRNA analysis showed that strain G6-18^T had the highest similarity to Paraliobacillus ryukyuensis DSM 15140^T, reaching 97.0 %, followed by Paraliobacillus quinghaiensis CGMCC 1.6333^T with a value of 96.3 %. The average nucleotide identity values between strain G6-18^T and Paraliobacillus ryukyuensis DSM 15140^T, Paraliobacillus sedimins KCTC 33762^T, Paraliobacillus quinghaiensis CGMCC 1.6333^T and Paraliobacillus zengyii DSM 107811^T were 74.3, 72.0, 73.2 and 72.8 %, respectively, and the digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain G6-18^T and the neighbouring strains were 15.6, 13.8, 14.2 and 14.2 %, respectively. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic inferences, strain G6-18^T represents a novel species of the genus Paraliobacillus, for which the name Paraliobacillus salinarum sp. nov. (=CGMCC 1.12058^T=DSM 25428^T) is proposed.

Architecture of bacterial respiratory chains

Bacteria power their energy metabolism using membrane-bound respiratory enzymes that capture chemical energy and transduce it by pumping protons or Na⁺ ions across their cell membranes. Recent breakthroughs in molecular bioenergetics have elucidated the architecture and function of many bacterial respiratory enzymes, although key mechanistic principles remain debated. In this Review, we present an overview of the structure, function and bioenergetic principles of modular bacterial respiratory chains and discuss their differences from the eukaryotic counterparts. We also discuss bacterial supercomplexes, which provide central energy transduction systems in several bacteria, including important pathogens, and which could open up possible avenues for treatment of disease.

Insight into the direct interaction of Na+ with NhaA and mechanistic implications

Na⁺/H⁺ antiporters comprise a family of membrane proteins evolutionarily conserved in all kingdoms of life that are essential in cellular ion homeostasis. While several human homologues have long been drug targets, NhaA of Escherichia coli has become the paradigm for this class of secondary active transporters as NhaA crystals provided insight in the structure of this molecular machine. However, structural data revealing the composition of the binding site for Na⁺ (or its surrogate Li⁺) is missing, representing a bottleneck in our understanding of the correlation between the structure and function of NhaA. Here, by adapting the scintillation proximity assay (SPA) for direct determination of Na⁺ binding to NhaA, we revealed that (i) NhaA is well adapted as the main antiporter for Na⁺ homeostasis in Escherichia coli and possibly in other bacteria as the cytoplasmic Na⁺ concentration is similar to the Na⁺ binding affinity of NhaA, (ii) experimental conditions affect NhaA-mediated cation binding, (iii) in addition to Na⁺ and Li⁺, the halide Tl⁺ interacts with NhaA, (iv) whereas acidic pH inhibits maximum binding of Na⁺ to NhaA, partial Na⁺ binding by NhaA is independent of the pH, an important novel insight into the effect of pH on NhaA cation binding.

Revealing the salinity adaptation mechanism in halotolerant bacterium Egicoccus halophilus EGI 80432T by physiological analysis and comparative transcriptomics

Egicoccus halophilus EGI 80432^T, a halotolerant bacterium isolated from a saline-alkaline soil, belongs to a member of the class Nitriliruptoria, which exhibits high adaptability to salt environments. At present, the detailed knowledge of the salinity adaptation strategies of Nitriliruptoria was limited except for one research by using comparative genomics analysis. Here, we investigated the salinity adaptation mechanism of E. halophilus EGI 80432^T by comparative physiological and transcriptomic analyses. The results of physiological analyses showed that trehalose and glutamate were accumulated by salt stress and showed the maximum at moderate salinity condition. Furthermore, the contents of histidine, threonine, proline, and ectoine were increased with increasing salt concentration. We found that both 0% and 9% NaCl conditions resulted in increased expressions of genes involved in carbohydrate and energy metabolisms, but negatively affected the Na⁺ efflux, iron, and molybdate transport. Moreover, the high salt condition led to enhancement of transcription of genes required for the synthesis of compatible solutes, e.g., glutamate, histidine, threonine, proline, and ectoine, which agree with the results of physiological analyses. The above results revealed that E. halophilus EGI 80432^T increased inorganic ions uptake and accumulated trehalose and glutamate in response to moderate salinity condition, while the salinity adaptation strategy was changed from a "salt-in-cytoplasm" strategy to a "compatible solute" strategy under high salinity condition. The findings in this study would promote further studies in salt tolerance molecular mechanism of Nitriliruptoria and provide a theoretical support for E. halophilus EGI 80432^T's application in ecological restoration.Key Points• Salt stress affected gene expressions responsible for carbohydrate and energy metabolisms of E. halophilus EGI 8042^T.• E. halophilus EGI 80432^T significantly accumulated compatible solutes under salt stress.• E. halophilus EGI 80432^T adopted a "compatible solute" strategy to withstand high salt stress.

Osmoregulation in the Halophilic Bacterium Halomonas elongata: A Case Study for Integrative Systems Biology

Halophilic bacteria use a variety of osmoregulatory methods, such as the accumulation of one or more compatible solutes. The wide diversity of compounds that can act as compatible solute complicates the task of understanding the different strategies that halophilic bacteria use to cope with salt. This is specially challenging when attempting to go beyond the pathway that produces a certain compatible solute towards an understanding of how the metabolic network as a whole addresses the problem. Metabolic reconstruction based on genomic data together with Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) is a promising tool to gain insight into this problem. However, as more of these reconstructions become available, it becomes clear that processes predicted by genome annotation may not reflect the processes that are active in vivo. As a case in point, E. coli is unable to grow aerobically on citrate in spite of having all the necessary genes to do it. It has also been shown that the realization of this genetic potential into an actual capability to metabolize citrate is an extremely unlikely event under normal evolutionary conditions. Moreover, many marine bacteria seem to have the same pathways to metabolize glucose but each species uses a different one. In this work, a metabolic network inferred from genomic annotation of the halophilic bacterium Halomonas elongata and proteomic profiling experiments are used as a starting point to motivate targeted experiments in order to find out some of the defining features of the osmoregulatory strategies of this bacterium. This new information is then used to refine the network in order to describe the actual capabilities of H. elongata, rather than its genetic potential.

Genomes of surface isolates of Alteromonas macleodii: the life of a widespread marine opportunistic copiotroph

Alteromonas macleodii is a marine gammaproteobacterium with widespread distribution in temperate or tropical waters. We describe three genomes of isolates from surface waters around Europe (Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea) and compare them with a previously described deep Mediterranean isolate (AltDE) that belongs to a widely divergent clade. The surface isolates are quite similar, the most divergent being the Black Sea (BS11) isolate. The genomes contain several genomic islands with different gene content. The recruitment of very similar genomic fragments from metagenomes in different locations indicates that the surface clade is globally abundant with little effect of geography, even the AltDE and the BS11 genomes recruiting from surface samples in open ocean locations. The finding of CRISPR protospacers of AltDE in a lysogenic phage in the Atlantic (English Channel) isolate illustrates a flow of genetic material among these clades and a remarkably wide distribution of this phage.

Revealing the ligand binding site of NhaA Na+/H+ antiporter and its pH dependence

pH and Na(+) homeostasis in all cells requires Na(+)/H(+) antiporters. In most cases, their activity is tightly pH-regulated. NhaA, the main antiporter of Escherichia coli, has homologues in all biological kingdoms. The crystal structure of NhaA provided insights into the mechanism of action and pH regulation of an antiporter. However, the active site of NhaA remained elusive because neither Na(+) nor Li(+), the NhaA ligands, were observed in the structure. Using isothermal titration calorimetry, we show that purified NhaA binds Li(+) in detergent micelles. This interaction is driven by an increase in enthalpy (ΔH of -8000 ± 300 cal/mol and ΔS of -15.2 cal/mol/degree at 283 K), involves a single binding site per NhaA molecule, and is highly specific and drastically dependent on pH; Li(+) binding was observed only at pH 8.5. Combining mutational analysis with the isothermal titration calorimetry measurements revealed that Asp-163, Asp-164, Thr-132, and Asp-133 form the Li(+) binding site, whereas Lys-300 plays an important role in pH regulation of the antiporter.

New insights in the sugarcane transcriptome responding to drought stress as revealed by superSAGE

In the scope of the present work, four SuperSAGE libraries have been generated, using bulked root tissues from four drought-tolerant accessions as compared with four bulked sensitive genotypes, aiming to generate a panel of differentially expressed stress-responsive genes. Both groups were submitted to 24 hours of water deficit stress. The SuperSAGE libraries produced 8,787,315 tags (26 bp) that, after exclusion of singlets, allowed the identification of 205,975 unitags. Most relevant BlastN matches comprised 567,420 tags, regarding 75,404 unitags with 164,860 different ESTs. To optimize the annotation efficiency, the Gene Ontology (GO) categorization was carried out for 186,191 ESTs (BlastN against Uniprot-SwissProt), permitting the categorization of 118,208 ESTs (63.5%). In an attempt to elect a group of the best tags to be validated by RTqPCR, the GO categorization of the tag-related ESTs allowed the in silico identification of 213 upregulated unitags responding basically to abiotic stresses, from which 145 presented no hits after BlastN analysis, probably concerning new genes still uncovered in previous studies. The present report analyzes the sugarcane transcriptome under drought stress, using a combination of high-throughput transcriptome profiling by SuperSAGE with the Solexa sequencing technology, allowing the identification of potential target genes during the stress response.

Genomic and proteomic analysis of the Alkali-Tolerance Response (AlTR) in Listeria monocytogenes 10403S

BACKGROUND

Information regarding the Alkali-Tolerance Response (AlTR) in Listeria monocytogenes is very limited. Treatment of alkali-adapted cells with the protein synthesis inhibitor chloramphenicol has revealed that the AlTR is at least partially protein-dependent. In order to gain a more comprehensive perspective on the physiology and regulation of the AlTR, we compared differential gene expression and protein content of cells adapted at pH 9.5 and un-adapted cells (pH 7.0) using complementary DNA (cDNA) microarray and two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis, (combined with mass spectrometry) respectively.

RESULTS

In this study, L. monocytogenes was shown to exhibit a significant AlTR following a 1-h exposure to mild alkali (pH 9.5), which is capable of protecting cells from subsequent lethal alkali stress (pH 12.0). Adaptive intracellular gene expression involved genes that are associated with virulence, the general stress response, cell division, and changes in cell wall structure and included many genes with unknown functions. The observed variability between results of cDNA arrays and 2D gel electrophoresis may be accounted for by posttranslational modifications. Interestingly, several alkali induced genes/proteins can provide a cross protective overlap to other types of stresses.

CONCLUSION

Alkali pH provides therefore L. monocytogenes with nonspecific multiple-stress resistance that may be vital for survival in the human gastrointestinal tract as well as within food processing systems where alkali conditions prevail. This study showed strong evidence that the AlTR in L. monocytogenes functions as to minimize excess alkalisation and energy expenditures while mobilizing available carbon sources.

NhaD type sodium/proton-antiporter of Halomonas elongata: a salt stress response mechanism in marine habitats?

Background

Sodium/proton-antiporters (Nha) are known to play an important role in pH- and Na⁺-homeostasis. In microorganisms several types with different capacity, affinity and selectivity for Na⁺ and Li⁺ exist. The homeostasis system of E. coli, NhaA and NhaB, is well researched, but the function of other types of Na⁺/H⁺-antiporters like NhaD is yet to be fully understood. Since several antiporters play an important role at various points in the physiology of higher organisms, one can speculate that the main functions of some of those procaryotic antiporters differ from pH- and Na⁺-homeostasis.

Results

This study investigates the function and regulation of a gene encoding for a NhaD type antiporter which was discovered in the halophilic eubacterium Halomonas elongata.

The deduced primary amino acid sequence of the abovementioned gene showed more than 60% identity to known antiporters of the NhaD type from Alkalimonas amylolytica, Shewanella oneidensis and several other marine organisms of the γ-Proteobacteria. Evidence was found for a dual regulation of H. elongata NhaD expression. The gene was cloned and expressed in E. coli. Antiporter deficient NaCl and LiCl sensitive E. coli mutants EP432 and KNabc were partially complemented by a plasmid carrying the H. elongata nhaD gene. Surprisingly the LiCl sensitivity of E. coli strain DH5α having a complete homeostasis system was increased when NhaD was co-expressed.

Conclusion

Since NhaD is an antiporter known so far only from halophilic or haloalcaliphilic Proteobacteria one can speculate that this type of antiporter provides a special mechanism for adaptation to marine habitats. As was already speculated – though without supporting data – and substantiated in this study this might be active Na⁺-import for osmoregulatory purposes.

Alkaline pH homeostasis in bacteria: new insights

The capacity of bacteria to survive and grow at alkaline pH values is of widespread importance in the epidemiology of pathogenic bacteria, in remediation and industrial settings, as well as in marine, plant-associated and extremely alkaline ecological niches. Alkali-tolerance and alkaliphily, in turn, strongly depend upon mechanisms for alkaline pH homeostasis, as shown in pH shift experiments and growth experiments in chemostats at different external pH values. Transcriptome and proteome analyses have recently complemented physiological and genetic studies, revealing numerous adaptations that contribute to alkaline pH homeostasis. These include elevated levels of transporters and enzymes that promote proton capture and retention (e.g., the ATP synthase and monovalent cation/proton antiporters), metabolic changes that lead to increased acid production, and changes in the cell surface layers that contribute to cytoplasmic proton retention. Targeted studies over the past decade have followed up the long-recognized importance of monovalent cations in active pH homeostasis. These studies show the centrality of monovalent cation/proton antiporters in this process while microbial genomics provides information about the constellation of such antiporters in individual strains. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic genome databases has identified orthologs from bacteria to humans that allow better understanding of the specific functions and physiological roles of the antiporters. Detailed information about the properties of multiple antiporters in individual strains is starting to explain how specific monovalent cation/proton antiporters play dominant roles in alkaline pH homeostasis in cells that have several additional antiporters catalyzing ostensibly similar reactions. New insights into the pH-dependent Na(+)/H(+) antiporter NhaA that plays an important role in Escherichia coli have recently emerged from the determination of the structure of NhaA. This review highlights the approaches, major findings and unresolved problems in alkaline pH homeostasis, focusing on the small number of well-characterized alkali-tolerant and extremely alkaliphilic bacteria.

The solution structure of ChaB, a putative membrane ion antiporter regulator from Escherichia coli

BACKGROUND

ChaB is a putative regulator of ChaA, a Na+/H+ antiporter that also has Ca+/H+ activity in E. coli. ChaB contains a conserved 60-residue region of unknown function found in other bacteria, archaeabacteria and a series of baculoviral proteins. As part of a structural genomics project, the structure of ChaB was elucidated by NMR spectroscopy.

RESULTS

The structure of ChaB is composed of 3 alpha-helices and a small sheet that pack tightly to form a fold that is found in the cyclin-box family of proteins.

CONCLUSION

ChaB is distinguished from its putative DNA binding sequence homologues by a highly charged flexible loop region that has weak affinity to Mg2+ and Ca2+ divalent metal ions.

The Na+-translocating NADH:quinone oxidoreductase (NDH I) from Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli: implications for the mechanism of redox-driven cation translocation by complex I

Eukaryotic complex I integrated into the respiratory chain transports at least 4 H+ per NADH oxidized. Recent results indicate that the cation selectivity is altered to Na+ in complex I (NDH I) isolated from the enterobacteria Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. A sequence analysis illustrates the characteristic differences of the enterobacterial, Na+-translocating NDH I compared to the H+-translocating complex I from mitochondria. Special attention is given to the membranous NuoL (ND5, Nqo12) subunits that possess striking sequence similarities to secondary Na+/H+ antiporters and are proposed to participate in Na+ transport. A model of redox-linked Na+ (or H+) transport by complex I is discussed based on the ion-pair formation of a negatively charged ubisemiquinone anion with a positively charged Na+ (or H+).

Transcription of nhaA, the main Na(+)/H(+) antiporter of Escherichia coli, is regulated by Na(+) and growth phase

The transcription of nhaA, encoding the main Na(+)/H(+) antiporter of Escherichia coli, is induced by Na(+), regulated by NhaR, and affected by H-NS. In this work the roles of the two nhaA promoters (P1 and P2) were studied by analysis of transcription both in vivo and in vitro and promoter mutations. We found that P1 is an NhaR-dependent, Na(+)-induced, and H-NS-affected promoter both in the exponential and stationary phases. An in vitro transcription assay demonstrated that P1 is activated by sigma(70)-RNA polymerase and both NhaR and H-NS increase the specificity of P1. Remarkably, in marked contrast to P1, P2 exhibits very low activity during the exponential phase but is induced in the stationary phase to become the major promoter. Furthermore, P2 is activated by sigma(S) and is neither induced by Na(+) nor dependent on NhaR or affected by H-NS. Hence, this work establishes that nhaA has a dual mode of regulation, each involving a different promoter, and reveals that P2 and sigma(S) together are responsible for the survival of stationary-phase cells in the presence of high Na(+), alkaline pH, and the combination of high Na(+) and alkaline pH, the most stressful condition.

Role of the nhaC-encoded Na+/H+ antiporter of alkaliphilic Bacillus firmus OF4

Application of protoplast transformation and single- and double-crossover mutagenesis protocols to alkaliphilic Bacillus firmus OF4811M (an auxotrophic strain of B. firmus OF4) facilitated the extension of the sequence of the previously cloned nhaC gene, which encodes an Na+/H+ antiporter, and the surrounding region. The nhaC gene is part of a likely 2-gene operon encompassing nhaC and a small gene that was designated nhaS; the operon is preceded by novel direct repeats. The predicted alkaliphile NhaC, based on the extended sequence analysis, would be a membrane protein with 462 amino acid residues and 12 transmembrane segments that is highly homologous to the deduced products of homologous genes of unknown function from Bacillus subtilis and Haemophilus influenzae. The full-length version of nhaC complemented the Na+-sensitive phenotype of an antiporter-deficient mutant strain of Escherichia coli but not the alkali-sensitive growth phenotypes of Na+/H+-deficient mutants of either alkaliphilic B. firmus OF4811M or B. subtilis. Indeed, NhaC has no required role in alkaliphily, inasmuch as the nhaC deletion strain of B. firmus OF4811M, N13, grew well at pH 10.5 at Na+ concentrations equal to or greater than 10 mM. Even at lower Na+ concentrations, N13 exhibited only a modest growth defect at pH 10.5. This was accompanied by a reduced capacity to acidify the cytoplasm relative to the medium compared to the wild-type strain or to N13 complemented by cloned nhaC. The most notable deficiency observed in N13 was its poor growth at pH 7.5 and Na+ concentrations up to 25 mM. During growth at pH 7.5, NhaC is apparently a major component of the relatively high affinity Na+/H+ antiport activity available to extrude the Na+ and to confer some initial protection in the face of a sudden upshift in external pH, i.e., before full induction of additional antiporters. Consistent with the inference that NhaC is a relatively high affinity, electrogenic Na+/H+ antiporter, N13 exhibited a defect in diffusion potential-energized efflux of 22Na+ from right-side-out membrane vesicles from cells that were preloaded with 2 mM Na+ and energized at pH 7.5. When the experiment was conducted with vesicles loaded with 25 mM Na+, comparable efflux was observed in preparations from all the strains.

Na+-induced transcription of nhaA, which encodes an Na+/H+ antiporter in Escherichia coli, is positively regulated by nhaR and affected by hns

nhaA encodes an Na+/H+ antiporter in Escherichia coli which is essential for adaptation to high salinity and alkaline pH in the presence of Na+. We used Northern (RNA) analysis to measure directly the cellular levels of nhaA mRNA. NhaR belongs to the LysR family of regulatory proteins. Consistent with our previous data with an nhaA'-'lacZ fusion, NhaR was found to be a positive regulator and Na+ was found to be a specific inducer of nhaA transcription. In the nhaA'-'lacZ fusion, maximal induction was observed at alkaline pH. In contrast, in the nhaA+ strain both the level of nhaA expression and the induction ratio were lower at alkaline pH. This difference may be due to the activity of NhaA in the wild-type strain as NhaA efficiently excreted Na+ at alkaline pH and reduced the intracellular concentration of Na+, the signal for induction. We also showed that although the global regulator rpoS was not involved in nhaA regulation, the global regulator hns played a role. Thus, the expression of nhaA'-'lacZ was derepressed in strains bearing hns mutations and transformation with a low-copy-number plasmid carrying hns repressed expression and restored Na+ induction. The derepression in hns strains was nhaR independent. Most interestingly, multicopy nhaR, which in an hns+ background acted only as an Na+-dependent positive regulator, acted as a repressor in an hns strain in the absence of Na+ but was activated in the presence of the ion. Hence, an interplay between nhaR and hns in the regulation of nhaA was suggested.

Tetracycline/H+ antiport and Na+/H+ antiport catalyzed by the Bacillus subtilis TetA(L) transporter expressed in Escherichia coli

The properties of TetA(L)-dependent tetracycline/proton and Na+/proton antiport were studied in energized everted vesicles of Escherichia coli transformed with a cloned tetA(L) gene (pJTA1) from Bacillus subtilis. Inhibition patterns by valinomycin and nigericin indicated that both antiports were electrogenic, in contrast to the tetracycline/proton antiport encoded by gram-negative plasmid tet genes. Tetracycline uptake in the everted system was dependent upon a divalent cation, with cobalt being the preferred one. The apparent Km for tetracycline was markedly increased at pH 8.5 versus pH 7.5, whereas the Vmax was unchanged. The much higher apparent Km for Na+ decreased at pH 8.5 relative to that at pH 7.5, as did the Vmax. Na+ did not affect tetracycline uptake, nor did Co2+ and/or tetracycline affect Na+ uptake; complex patterns of inhibition by amiloride and analogs thereof were observed.