Question

How do substrate level phosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation differ from one another?

Answer 1

Substrate-level phosphorylation is directly phosphorylating ADP with a phosphate and energy provided from a coupled reaction. SLP will only occur if there is a reaction that releases sufficient energy to allow the direct phosphorylation of ADP.

Oxidative phosphorylation is when ATP is generated from the oxidation of NADH and FADH2 and the subsequent transfer of electrons and pumping of protons. That process generates an electrochemical gradient, which is required to power the ATP synthase.