Metabolism question

[cloak25]

Louis Pasteur discovered that by depriving a culture of yeast cells access to oxygen, their growth rate decreased by a factor of 6, while their glucose utilization increased. Under aerobic conditions, yeasts can synthesize 36 NTPs per molecule of glucose oxidized. The rate of glucose consumption under anaerobic conditions would increase by approx. what factor?

A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
D. 6

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[SaintJude]

C. 4 Edit.

 

[cloak25]

This is a question from TBR metabolic pathways chapter. Correct answer is B. Anaerobic produces 2ATP vs. 36 in aerobic. 36/2 = 18. 18/6 = 3. Can someone translate the math into words? I didn't quite understand their explanation.

 

[chiddler]

This is a question from TBR metabolic pathways chapter. Correct answer is B. Anaerobic produces 2ATP vs. 36 in aerobic. 36/2 = 18. 18/6 = 3. Can someone translate the math into words? I didn't quite understand their explanation.

Aerobic ATP production synthesizes 36 ATP per glucose. If they can't use aerobic, they go down to 2 ATP per glucose.

Ok so now they're at 2 ATP/glucose. But they have to increase their sugar consumption to compensate. But how much?

Their population was decreased 6x, so that means they produced 6x less ATP, or 36/6 = 6 ATP. Therefore, they increased their anaerobic glucose consumption by 3 because 2 ATP per glucose * 3 times increase = 6 ATP.

But don't feel too bad this was a difficult question. I had no idea where to start till reading your explanation :x

 

[chiddler]

C. 4 Edit.

LOL stjude, you edited after he gave the answer and still got it wrong!

for shame!