Questions? Comments? Please contact Dr. Phillip McClean or Christina Johnson.

Flythrough Tour
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CELLULAR PROCESSES
Atp Synthase
Electron Transport Chain
Protein Trafficking
Protein Modification
Protein Recycling
Constitutive Secretion
Regulated Secretion
Mitochondrial Protein Transport
Photosynthesis
Photosystem II
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MOLECULAR PROCESSES
Transcription
mRNA Processing
mRNA Splicing
Translation
Lac Operon
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HOME > ATP SYNTHASE > ADVANCED LOOK > 1.) LOCATION > 2.) GRADIENT > 3.) PUMPING > 4.) SYNTHESIS
ATP Synthase : Advanced Look --> 4.) Synthesis

The final stage of ATP synthesis is the creation of ATP. ATP synthase uses the energy from a proton gradient to combine ADP and Pi into an ATP molecule. Clicking on each of the thumbnail images will bring up a larger, labeled version of the described scene.

To see the Flash movie for the following sequence of images, click here.

The lower portion of the ATP synthase complex combines ADP and Pi to synthesize ATP.

In biolgical systems a proton gradient is maintained by the electron transport chain. In our example, however, the ETC is not functional. The proton gradient has equalized, and there is no energy left to synthesize more ATP.