Question

You have been sentenced to die in the gas chamber for murdering your A&P professor, as the cyanide gas permeates your cells you remember back to your studies of A&P and remember that cyanide binds to cytochromes in the electron transport chain, preventing the formation of ATP, so with your last thought you remember that the organelles the cyanide is acting on are the

Answer 1

Cyanide inhibits cytochrome c oxidase in the mitochondria, leading to an increase in pH in the intermembrane space and a decrease in ATP synthesis due to disruption of the electron transport chain.

Step-by-step explanation:

The organelles that cyanide acts on when it inhibits the electron transport chain are the mitochondria. Specifically, cyanide binds to cytochrome c oxidase (Complex IV) in the mitochondria, which is a critical enzyme in the electron transport chain (ETC). This binding prevents the transfer of electrons to oxygen, halting the production of the proton gradient necessary for ATP synthesis. As a result of cyanide poisoning, the pH of the intermembrane space would be expected to increase because the flow of hydrogen ions into this space would decrease without the functioning ETC. Consequently, ATP synthesis would be decreased or stopped entirely because ATP synthase relies on the proton gradient to convert ADP and inorganic phosphate into ATP; without a sufficient gradient, this process cannot occur efficiently.