Mitochondrial H+ -ATPase complex, purified by the lysolecithin extraction procedure, has been resolved into a "membrane" (NaBr-F0) and a "soluble" fraction by treatment with 3.5 M sodium bromide. The NaBr-F0 fraction is completely devoid of beta, delta, and epsilon subunits of the F, ATPase and largely devoid of alpha and gamma subunits of F1, where F0 is used to denote the membrane fraction and F1, coupling factor 1. This is confirmed by complete loss of ATPase and Pi-ATP exchange activities. The addition of F1 (400 micrograms X mg-1 F0) results in complete restoration of oligomycin sensitivity without any reduction in the F1-ATPase activity. Presumably, this is due to release of ATPase inhibitor protein from the F1-F0 complex consequent to sodium bromide extraction. Restoration of Pi-ATP exchange and H+ -pumping activities require coupling factor B in addition to F1-ATPase. The oligomycin-sensitive ATPase and 32Pi-ATP exchange activities in reconstituted F1-F0 have the same sensitivity to uncouplers and energy transfer inhibitors as in starting submitochondrial particles from the heavy layer of mitochondria and F1-F0 complex. The data suggest that the altered properties of NaBr-F0 observed in other laboratories are probably inherent to their F1-F0 preparations rather than to sodium bromide treatment itself. The H+ -ATPase (F1-F0) complex of all known prokaryotic (3, 8, 9, 10, 21, 32, 34) and eukaryotic (11, 26, 30, 33, 35-37) phosphorylating membranes contain two functionally and structurally distinct entities. The hydrophilic component F1, composed of five unlike subunits, shows ATPase activity that is cold labile as well as uncoupler- and oligomycin-insensitive. The membrane-bound hydrophobic component F0, having no energy-linked catalytic activity of its own, is indirectly assayed by its ability to regain oligomycin sensitive ATPase and Pi-ATP exchange activities on binding to F1-ATPase (33). The purest preparations of bovine heart mitochondrial F0 show seven or eight major components in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate or SDS-PAGE (1, 2, 12, 14), ranging from 6 to 54 ku in molecular weight (12). The precise structure and polypeptide composition of mitochondrial F0 is not known. The F0 preparations from bovine heart reported so far have been derived from H+ -ATPase preparations isolated in the presence of cholate and deoxycholate (11, 33, 36, 37).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)