Suppose that you have mitochondria and a substrate in the chamber, and that you

Question

Suppose that you have mitochondria and a substrate in the chamber, and that you have poisoned the ATP synthase complexes. The mitochondria cannot phosphorylate ADP. You want to know if they are still maintaning a chemiosmotic gradient. What single reagent can you add to the mitochondria in order to find out?

Freezing damages membranes, so that frozen mitochondria can no longer maintain a chemiosmotic gradient. Briefly, what function of previously frozen mitochondria can we study using a polarographic system?

Explanation / Answer

a) Adding excess ADP in the matrix would allow protons to be forced into the matrix regardless of whether or not ATP synthase is working. b) A polarographic system can be used to study oxygen depletion at the final stage of oxydative phosphorylation.

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