Question

Energy required by the cell is generated in the form of ATP. ATP is hydrolyzed to power many of the cellular processes, increasing the pool of ADP. As the relative amount of ADP molecules increases, they can bind to glycolytic enzymes, which will lead to the production of more ATP. The best way to describe this mechanism of regulation is ___________.

(a) feedback inhibition.
(b) oxidative phosphorylation.
(c) allosteric activation.
(d) substrate-level phosphorylation.

Answer 1

The mechanism by which increased ADP levels lead to the production of more ATP by binding to glycolytic enzymes is known as c) allosteric activation.

Step-by-step explanation:

When ADP molecules increase in the cell, they act as c) allosteric activators for glycolytic enzymes, which enhances the production of more ATP through the catabolism of sugar.

This process can best be described as allosteric activation. In contrast, feedback inhibition often involves the end-product of a metabolic pathway inhibiting an enzyme involved in its synthesis, which is not the case here.

Oxidative phosphorylation refers to ATP production utilizing oxygen and a gradient across a membrane, which is not directly related to ADP binding to glycolytic enzymes.

Substrate-level phosphorylation is a direct method of ATP production in a metabolic pathway, but it is unrelated to the regulation mechanism activated by ADP binding.