In crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) large amounts of malic acid are redistributed between vacuole and cytoplasm in the course of night-to-day transitions. The corresponding changes of the cytoplasmic pH (pHcyt) were monitored in mesophyll protoplasts from the CAM plant Kalanchoe daigremontiana Hamet et Perrier by ratiometric fluorimetry with the fluorescent dye 2',7'-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5-(and-6-)carboxyfluorescein as a pHcyt indicator. At the beginning of the light phase, pHcyt was slightly alkaline (about 7.5). It dropped during midday by about 0.3 pH units before recovering again in the late-day-to-early-dark phase. In the physiological context the variation in pHcyt may be a component of CAM regulation. Due to its pH sensitivity, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase appears as a likely target enzyme. From monitoring delta pHcyt in response to loading the cytoplasm with the weak acid salt K-acetate a cytoplasmic H(+)-buffer capacity in the order of 65 mM H+ per pH unit was estimated at a pHcyt of about 7.5. With this value, an acid load of the cytoplasm by about 10 mM malic acid can be estimated as the cause of the observed drop in pHcyt. A diurnal oscillation in pHcyt and a quantitatively similar cytoplasmic malic acid is predicted from an established mathematical model which allows simulation of the CAM dynamics. The similarity of model predictions and experimental data supports the view put forward in this model that a phase transition of the tonoplast is an essential functional element in CAM dynamics.