Question

How many molecules of THF are generated per second if your DHFR protein consumes 5 molecules of NADPH per second?

5
10
2.5
300

Answer 1

The DHFR protein consumes 5 molecules of NADPH per second. Assuming a similar interaction with NADH, approximately 4.61 molecules of THF are generated per second.

Step-by-step explanation:

The conversion of N5, N¹0-Methylene-THF to THF consumes one molecule of NADH per reaction. We know that your DHFR protein consumes 5 molecules of NADPH per second. NADPH and NADH are structurally similar but have different functions. Therefore, you cannot directly convert NADPH to NADH. However, if we assume that the DHFR protein interacts with NADPH in a similar way as it does with NADH, we can use the ratio of NADH to NADPH, which is 312:290, to estimate the number of molecules of THF generated per second.

So, for every 312 molecules of NADH consumed, approximately 290 molecules of THF are generated. Therefore, based on the ratio of 5 molecules of NADPH consumed, we can estimate that approximately 5 × (290/312) = 4.61 molecules of THF are generated per second.