Question

You are studying a biochemical pathway that requires ATP as an energy source. To your dismay, the reactions soon stop, partly because the ATP is rapidly used up and partly because an excess of ADP builds up and inhibits the enzymes involved. You are about to give up when the following table from a biochemistry textbook catches your eye.

Which of the following reagents are most likely to revitalize your reaction?
(A) a vast excess of ATP
(B) glucose 6-phosphate and enzyme D
(C) creatine phosphate and enzyme A (d) pyrophosphate

Answer 1

Revitalize the biochemical reaction, creatine phosphate and enzyme A (option C) are most likely to help because they can regenerate ATP from ADP, which replenishes ATP and reduces ADP levels, relieving enzyme inhibition.

Step-by-step explanation:

To revitalize a biochemical reaction that has stopped due to the depletion of ATP and inhibition by ADP, you need a way to regenerate ATP from ADP. Adding a vast excess of ATP (A) might seem like a straightforward solution but is not ideal because too much ATP can lead to waste as ATP is unstable and can spontaneously dissociate into ADP. Glucose 6-phosphate and enzyme D (B) could be a part of a pathway to generate ATP, but without further context, it's uncertain if it would directly address the current enzyme inhibition.



Pyrophosphate (D) is not mentioned as a compound that can regenerate ATP from ADP. However, creatine phosphate and enzyme A (C) are likely to help because, as mentioned in LibreTexts, the hydrolysis of compounds such as creatine phosphate, which appear above ATP in the table of high-energy compounds, can provide the energy needed to resynthesize ATP from ADP. This would not only replenish ATP but also lower ADP levels, potentially relieving the inhibition of the enzymes involved.