Constitutive Potassium Transport Systems in E. coli

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Constitutive Potassium Transport Systems in E. coli: Several constitutive potassium transport systems of the Gram- negative bacterium,-Escherichia coli, will be analyzed. The analysis of the moderate affinity Trk system will include determination of the four genes implicated in that stystem but not yet sequenced. The subcellular location of the gene products and interactions among these proteins will be defined. Residual potassium transport activity in mutants lacking Trk will be the subject of genetic analysis. Major systems of potassium efflux will be identified by mutational analysis. After the systems are identified, their protein components, kinetics and regulation will be deterimined. The results of this research should increase our understanding of the mechanisms and regulation of all ways that potassium homeostasis is maintained in E. coli. It is not unreasonable to assume that the patterns, mechanisms and principles discovered in bacteria will be useful in understanding similarities in other cells with walls such as plant cells. Moreover, because the high affinity Kdp transport system is homologous to transport ATPases of higher eucaryotes the results should be instructive for the bioenergetics of mammalian systems.