Measurement of intracellular pH in fungal hyphae using BCECF and digital imaging microscopy: Evidence for a primary proton pump in the plasmalemma of a marine fungus

Abstract

The facultative marine fungus, Dendryphiella salina, has the most negative membrane potential yet recorded for a marine organism. The ionic basis for this is thought to be through the action of a primary proton pump, though there exists the possibility of electrogenic pumping of Na⁺ or Cl⁻, given the high ambient concentration of these ions. Fluorescence ratio imaging microscopy with the pH-sensitive fluorescent probe 2′,7′-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5(and-6) carboxyfluorescein (BCECF) has been used to estimate intracellular pH. Hyphae loaded readily with BCECF after incubation with the acetoxymethyl ester (BCECF/AM). Mean resting intracellular pH (pH₁) was 7.3, calculated by comparing 490/450 nm fluorescence ratios with in vivo calibration curves obtained by pH equilibration using nigericin. Distinct pH compartments could be observed, corresponding to cytoplasmic and smaller vacuolar compartments. Sodium azide reversibly reduced pH₁ by an average of 0.51 of a pH unit, though the response varied between individual hyphae. Inhibiting the plasmalemma ATPase with orthovanadate also reversibly decreased pH|. The results support the presence of a proton pump in the plasmamembrane. The energetic and evolutionary implications are discussed.