Proton transport and cell function.

The past five years have witnessed an explosion of information on the many and varied roles of H+ transport in cell function. H+ transport is involved in three broad areas of cell function: (a) maintenance and alteration of intracellular pH for initiation of specific cellular events, (b) generation of pH gradients in localized regions of the cell, including gradients involved in energy transduction, and (c) transepithelial ion transport. These processes each involve one or more of several H+ translocating mechanisms. The first section of this review will discuss these H+ translocating mechanisms and the second part will deal with the cellular functions controlled by H+ transport.