Question

The concentration of h+ ions inside the mitochondrial matrix is lower than it is in the cytosol or the mitochondrial intermembrane space. what would be the immediate effect of a membrane-permeable compound that carries and releases protons into the mitochondrial matrix?

Answer 1

Answer:

Mitochondria occupy a substantial portion of the cytoplasmic volume of eucaryotic cells, and they have been essential for the evolution of complex animals. Without mitochondria, present-day animal cells would be dependent on anaerobic glycolysis for all of their ATP. When glucose is converted to pyruvate by glycolysis, only a very small fraction of the total free energy potentially available from the glucose is released. In mitochondria, the metabolism of sugars is completed: the pyruvate is imported into the mitochondrion and oxidized by O2 to CO2 and H2O. This allows 15 times more ATP to be made than that produced by glycolysis alone.