The binding of alkali cations by the ionophorous antibiotics valinomycin, nigericin, alamethicin, and the macrotetralide actins has been shown to occur, in aqueous media, by the use of the fluorescent probes I-anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate and 2-p-toluidinyl-6-naphthalene sulfonate. The interaction of the ionophore-cation complexes with the fluorescent dyes produced enhanced fluorescence emission, increased lifetime and polarization, and a significant blue-shift of the emission maxima of the fluorescence spectrum. At constant antibiotic and fluorophore concentrations in water, the intensity of the fluorescence emission was found to be a function of the cation concentration. This permitted relative cation affinities to be determined for alamethicin (Na+ K+), valinomycin (Rb+ > K+ > Cs+), nigericin (K > Rb+ > Na4 > Cs+) and trinactin (NH4+ > K+ > Rb+ > Cs+).Certain microbial metabolites, termed ionophorous antibiotics, have been observed to produce profound effects upon passive ion transport in erythrocytes, bacteria, lipid bilayer membranes, and energy-dependent ion transport in mitochondria (1-3). These phenomena are all markedly dependent upon the alkali-cation composition of the medium. This dependency has been accounted for by the discovery of the remarkably specific alkali-cation binding properties of these antibiotics (1,4,5). Among the ionophores are such groups as: (a) the cyclodepsipeptides (i.e., valinomycin and the enniatin antibiotics) and the nactin cyclodepsides, which form positively charged complexes with alkali-cations, (b) nigericin and monensin, linear chains of oxygen-containing heterocyclic rings that cyclize by hydrogen bonding between carbonyl and hydroxyl groups at opposite ends of the molecule, and whose cation complexes are electrically neutral, and (c) alamethicin, a cyclic polypeptide with a free carboxyl group that can form neutral or net positively charged complexes. Cation selectivity in organic solvents or model membrane systems varies from high K+/Na+ affinity for valinomycin, macrolide actins, and nigericin, and poor discrimination between these two cations for alamethicin, to Na+ preference for monensin (1,(4)(5)(6)26). A common property of all these ionophores is the ability to carry alkali-cations across lipid barriers, or into solvents of low polarity (1, 4, 5). X-ray crystallography, proton magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, and optical rotatory dispersion have revealed that the cations are associated through induced dipole interactions with carbonyl, ether, or hydroxyl oxygen atoms of the ionophore. Conformational changes occur upon reaction with the cation, with the result that the cation (stripped of its hydration shell) resides within a cavity formed by the polar oxygen groups. The latter are in turn enclosed within the lipophilic portions of the ionophore, which comprise the exterior of the complex (7-10). The shielded cation can be solubilized in media of low polarity, or carried across the hydrocarbon interior of a membrane as a mobile complex. Forma...