[The sodium cycle--a new type of bacterial energetics]

The literature data and experimental results of the author's laboratory on the role of Na+ in bacterial energetics are reviewed. It was shown that certain bacterial species utilize the transmembrane difference of Na+ electrochemical potentials (delta mu Na+) as a convertible membrane-linked form of energy. The membranes of such bacteria were found to contain delta mu Na+ generators (e. g., decarboxylases of some carboxylic acids of NADH-menaquinone reductase). It was shown that delta mu Na+ formed by these generators may support all the three main types of work of the bacterial cell, i. e., chemical (ATP synthesis), osmotic (substrate accumulation) and mechanical (motility).