We show here sodium ion cycling between complex I from Klebsiella pneumoniae and the F 1F0 ATP synthase from Ilyobacter tartaricus in a reconstituted proteoliposome system. In the course of NADH oxidation by complex I, an electrochemical sodium ion gradient was established and served as a driving force for the synthesis of ATP from ADP and phosphate. In the opposite direction, the ⌬˜N a ؉ generated by ATP hydrolysis could be coupled to NADH formation by reversed electron transfer from ubiquinol to NAD. For reverse electron transfer, a transmembrane voltage larger than 30 mV was obligatory. No NADH-driven proton transport into the lumen of proteoliposomes was detected. We conclude that Na ؉ is used as the exclusive coupling ion by the enterobacterial complex I. E very living cell establishes transmembrane electrochemical gradients with the help of primary ion pumps. These power plants of the cell provide or use energy-rich metabolites like ATP or NADH. The chemiosmotic theory (1) describes how the exergonic oxidation of NADH by the NADH:quinone oxidoreductase (complex I) generates an electrochemical potential that drives the endergonic synthesis of ATP by ATP synthase. Homologues of these two enzyme complexes are found in the inner membrane of mitochondria, in the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts, and in the cytoplasmic membrane of bacteria. Complex I is a large lipoprotein complex (500 or 1,000 kDa in bacteria or eukaryotes) that couples the oxidation of NADH with quinones to the transport of protons (2) across the membrane. The redox cofactors of complex I (one FMN and up to nine Fe͞S clusters) are located in the promontory arm of the L-shaped complex extending into the cytoplasm, whereas the coupling cations (H ϩ or Na ϩ ) must pass through the membranous part of the complex (Fig. 1). Diminished complex I activity is associated with Parkinson's disease (3) and aging (4) and represents the most frequently encountered inherited defect of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system (5). Despite considerable knowledge of primary sequences (6), cofactors (7), and assembly (8), the mechanism of redox-driven proton transport by complex I and the subunit(s) that guide the proton through its membranous part is unknown. A promising approach is to study bacterial counterparts of complex I that are smaller but possess all central subunits required for redox-driven H ϩ (or Na ϩ ) transport (9). In particular, an Na ϩ -translocating complex I found in enterobacteria like Escherichia coli (10) or Klebsiella pneumoniae (11) is a useful model to trace the pathway of the coupling cation, as exemplified by the Na ϩ -translocating F 1 F 0 ATP synthase (12). The analysis of the cation-translocating step is facilitated by selectively removing or adding Na ϩ , which does not affect the stability of the protein. Variation of the proton concentration is far more restricted, however, because the physiologically active proteins usually tolerate proton concentrations of 10 Ϫ8 to 10 Ϫ6 M. By using Na ϩ -rather than H ϩ -translocating ...