Artificially induced active transport of amino acid driven by the efflux of a sugar via a heterologous transport system in de-energized Escherichia coli.

Consistent with the model of an H+ cotransport, amino acid uptake can be driven by a proton gradient generated by an efflux of sugar when the normal energy sources are suppressed. Heterologous countertransport is completely inhibited by uncouplers unlike homologous countertransport. Positive coupling was obtained with methyl thiogalactoside/proline, methyl thiogalactoside/phenylalanine, gluconate/proline; however, the poor coupling efficiency suggests a more complex sequence of reactions.