Vanadate and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide insensitive proton extrusion from oxygen pulsed cells of the cyanobacterium Anacystis nidulans.

Oxygen pulses applied to dark anaerobic suspensions of Anacystis nidulans provoked immediate acidification of the external medium. The reaction was inhibited only 75% by dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and 7-chloro-4-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole at concentrations which completely arrested all oxidative phosphorylation. Carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone eliminated the acidification of oxygen pulsed cell suspensions while ortho-vanadate and diethylstilbestrol had no effect. No lag occurred between the onset of respiration and proton extrusion. H+/O ratios were 4.1 +/- 0.5 in the absence, and 1.9 +/- 0.4 in the presence, of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. These results are consistent with a recently described proton-translocating aa3-type cytochrome c oxidase (H+/O = 1.6 +/- 0.4) in the cell membrane of A. nidulans (G.A. Peschek, J. Bacteriol. 153 (1983) 539-542).