Regulation of Oxidative Phosphorylation:- ATP-Producing Pathways Are Coordinately Regulated
The major catabolic pathways have interlocking and concerted regulatory mechanisms that allow them to function together in an economical and self-regulating manner to produce ATP and biosynthetic precursors. The relative concentrations of ATP and ADP control not only the rates of electron transfer and oxidative phos phorylation but also the rates of the citric acid cycle, pyruvate oxidation, and glycolysis (Fig. 19–31). Whenever ATP consumption increases, the rate of electron transfer and oxidative phosphorylation increases. Simultaneously, the rate of pyruvate oxidation via the citric acid cycle increases, increasing the flow of electrons into the respiratory chain. These events can in turn evoke an increase in the rate of glycolysis, increasing the rate of pyruvate formation. When conversion of ADP to ATP lowers the ADP concentration, acceptor control slows electron transfer and thus oxidative phosphorylation. Glycolysis and the citric acid cycle are also slowed, because ATP is an allosteric inhibitor of the glycolytic enzyme phosphofructokinase-1 and of pyruvate dehydrogenase. Phosphofructokinase-1 is also inhibited by citrate, the first intermediate of the citric acid cycle. When the cycle is “idling,” citrate accumulates within mitochondria, then spills into the cytosol. When the concentrations of both ATP and citrate rise, they produce a concerted allosteric inhibition of phosphofructokinase-1 that is greater than the sum of their individual effects, slowing glycolysis.
FIGURE 19–31 Regulation of the ATP-producing pathways. This diagram shows the interlocking regulation of glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, the citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation by the relative concentrations of ATP, ADP, and AMP, and by NADH. High [ATP] (or low [ADP] and [AMP]) produces low rates of glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, acetate oxidation via the citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation. All four pathways are accelerated when the use of ATP and the formation of ADP, AMP, and Pi increase. The interlocking of glycolysis and the citric acid cycle by citrate, which inhibits glycolysis, supplements the action of the adenine nucleotide system. In addition, increased levels of NADH and acetyl-CoA also inhibit the oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA, and a high [NADH]/[NAD+] ratio inhibits the dehydrogenase reactions of the citric acid cycle (see Fig. 16–18).
