What would happen to the ATP yield of cellular respiration if: (a) the transport

Question

What would happen to the ATP yield of cellular respiration if: (a) the transporter that imports pyruvate into the mitochondria stopped working? Explain detailing the effect of this on ATP production for all three phases of glucose breakdown. (b) the transporter that imports pyruvate into the mitochondria worked only at 10% of its normal capacity? Explain detailing the effect of this on ATP production for all three phases of glucose breakdown. (c) The inner membrane of the mitochondria became affected by an antibiotic that prevented the buildup of a proton gradient. Explain detailing the effect of this on ATP production for all three phases of glucose breakdown. (d) ATP synthase started to make one ATP per proton. Explain detailing the effect of this on ATP production for all three phases of glucose breakdown.

Explanation / Answer

Glucose is broken down sequentially by 3 phases namely glycolysis, Krebs cycle and electron transport chain.

ATP yield

Glycolysis - 2 ATP

TCA cycle - 2 ATP

NADH from

Glycolysis - 2

Pyruvate to Acetyl CoA - 2

ETC - 6

Total ATP from NADH = 30 ATP

FADH - 2 from ETC - 4 ATP

Totally = 38.

This is not fixed the value ranges between 36 to 38. This is because the NADH from glycolysis may get converted to FADH.

1. If Pyruvate is not transported, it will not be converted into Acetyl CoA and hence no Krebs cycle. So totally, 8 ATP (2NADH and 2 ATP) is lost in the overall yield.

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