VCAC: Cellular Processes: ATP Synthase: Advanced Look: 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.

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	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.

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