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An Approach to the Study of Electron Transport Systems

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Methods in Membrane Biology

Abstract

Metabolic pathways, in order to fulfill their role in biological organisms, must provide a continuing net conversion of available substrate into products which are required by the organism and are otherwise unavailable. As such, the overall metabolic conversion of substrate to product must be associated with a negative free energy change and will not be at equilibrium. Analysis of the reactants in various enzymic reactions has established, however, that the cellular metabolic pathways contain many enzymic steps which are near equilibrium. The overall metabolic processes are not at equilibrium because a few reactions are essentially irreversible and serve to control kinetically the net flow of metabolites through the pathway. Krebs and Veech (1969) have stated, “This network [of near equilibrium processes] is one of thermodynamic equilibria whereas living cells, of course, do not represent equilibria but steady states. But the fact that thermodynamic equilibrium of a cell is synonymous with death does not imply that equilibria cannot play an important part in the Organization of the chemical cell dynamics. Equilibria form a basic framework upon which virtually irreversible processes are superimposed.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Medical School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, USA

    David F. Wilson

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  1. David F. Wilson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Cell Biology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Edward D. Korn

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© 1979 Plenum Press, New York

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Wilson, D.F. (1979). An Approach to the Study of Electron Transport Systems. In: Korn, E.D. (eds) Methods in Membrane Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0985-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0985-7_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-0987-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-0985-7

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