Abstract
Respiratory and reverse electron transport by chemoautotrophic bacteria have been formulated in chemiosmotic terms. A thermodynamic analysis of this model, assuming equilibrium conditions, indicates that respiration by most chemoautotrophs can generate a protonmotive force easily sufficient to drive both ATP synthesis and reverse electron transport.
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Dedicated to the memory of Roger Stanier, who first called to my attention the problem discussed here; and whose analysis of the relationship between it and the phenomenon of “obligate” autotrophy (Smith et al. 1967), although later shown to be inadequate, remains for me a model of creative biochemical insight
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Wheelis, M. Energy conservation and pyridine nucleotide reduction in chemoautotrophic bacteria: a thermodynamic analysis. Arch. Microbiol. 138, 166–169 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413017
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413017