Phosphoryl group transfer coupled electron

An interesting experiment is to allow oxidative phosphorylation to proceed until the mitochondria reach state 4 and to measure the phosphorylation state ratio Rp, which equals the value of [ATP] / [ADP][PJ that is attained. This mass action ratio, which has also been called the "phosphorylation ratio" or "phosphorylation potential" (see Chapter 6 and Eq. 6-29), often reaches values greater than 104-105 M 1 in the cytosol.164 An extrapolated value for a zero rate of ATP hydrolysis of log Rf) = 6.9 was estimated. This corresponds (Eq. 6-29) to an increase in group transfer potential (AG of hydrolysis of ATP) of 39 kj/mol. It follows that the overall value of AG for oxidation of NADH in the coupled electron transport chain is less negative than is AG. If synthesis of three molecules of ATP is coupled to electron transport, the system should reach an equilibrium when Rp = 106 4 at 25°C, the difference in AG and AG being 3RT In Rp = 3 x 5.708 x 6.4 = 110 kj mol-1. This value of Rp is, within experimental error, the same as the maximum value observed.165 There apparently is an almost true equilibrium among NADH, 02 and the adenylate system if the P/O ratio is 3. 

However, if the electron transport between 3-hydroxybutyrate and cytochrome b562 is tightly coupled to the synthesis of one molecule of ATP, the observed potential of the carrier will be determined not only by the imposed potential E of the equilibrating system but also by the phosphorylation state ratio of the adenylate system (Eq. 18-7). Here AG atp is the group transfer potential (-AG of hydrolysis) of ATP at pH 7 (Table 6-6), and n is the number of electrons passing through the chain required to synthesize one ATP. In the upper part of the equation n is the number of electrons required to reduce the carrier, namely one in the case of cytochrome b562. 

Once the nature of the unsaturation in the C17 chain was established, we considered if this structural feature had an active role in function or could we say nature has just been too lazy to reduce these double bonds to give a saturated polyisoprenoid group. Possibly related in function are the similarly unsaturated, though frequently much longer, isoprenoid chains of ubiquinones, vitamin K s, and related compounds, substances also implicated in electron-transfer and/or oxidative phosphorylation processes. Thus, the C17 group in heme A may be directly related to either electron transfer or coupling of phosphorylation in the oxidase. 

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