) As a comparative physiologist studying black bears in the Appalachian Mountain
ID: 196217 • Letter: #
Question
) As a comparative physiologist studying black bears in the Appalachian Mountains you wish to test your hypothesis that the aerobic capacity (hint: it would also indicate aerobic qlucose and lipid metabolism) of skeletal muscle cells is a useful assessment of yearly migratory distance and home range size. Assuming that you can readily attain skeletal muscle samples from multiple bears that are known to migrate very long or short distances per year, which biological indicators would you analyze to test your hypothesis? Which pathways govern aerobic capacity in eukaryotic cells? (20 points)Explanation / Answer
The definition of aerobic capacity is the a measure of the ability of the heart and lungs to get oxygen to the muscles. An example ofaerobic capacity is body's ability to take in and use oxygen to improve aerobicperformance.
Aerobic fitness is important in determining the magnitude of the oxidative responded. Bears with high aerobic capacity will have strong muscles.
Mitochondria — often called the powerhouses of the cell — enable eukaryotes to make more efficient use of food sources than their prokaryotic counterparts. That's because these organelles greatly expand the amount of membrane used for energy-generating electron transport chains. In addition, mitochondria use a process called oxidative metabolism to convert food into energy, and oxidative metabolism yields more energy per food molecule than non-oxygen-using, or anaerobic, methods. Energywise, cells with mitochondria can therefore afford to be bigger than cells without mitochondria.
Within eukaryotic cells, mitochondria function somewhat like batteries, because they convert energy from one form to another: food nutrients to ATP. Accordingly, cells with high metabolic needs can meet their higher energy demands by increasing the number of mitochondria they contain. For example, muscle cells in people who exercise regularly possess more mitochondria than muscle cells in sedentary people.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.