The use of several energy-coupling reactions in characterizing mutants of Escherichia coli K12 defective in oxidative phosphorylation.

Oxidative phosphorylation, ATP-32Pi exchange, ATP-dependent quenching of acridine-dye fluorescence, ATP-dependent transhydrogenase and ATP-dependent transport of thiomethyl beta-D-galactoside are shown to be experimentally equivalent tools to study the functional state of the ATPase complex in Escherichia coli wild-type and mutant strains defective in oxidative phosphorylation. According to these criteria ten mutants in the ATPase complex were classified having lesions in the unc A,B region of the chromosome. The first mutant type lacks ATPase activity, but the membrane-integrated part of the complex remains functional (class I). The second mutant type lacks a functional membrane-integrated part, but retains ATPase activity (class II). The third mutant type is shown to be defective in both parts of the ATPase complex (class III).