A big mac hamburger has 25g of protein 29g of fat and 46g of

A big mac hamburger has 25g of protein, 29g of fat, and 46g of carbohydrates(sugar). Let\'s figure out how much ATP each cell in our boy will get from this? please explain!

Assumptions:

All protein gets turned into muscle- none of it is used for energy production. Assume all the carbohydrates is in form of glucose, which will be used in its entirely for energy production. Its molecular weight is 180 g/mol. Assume all fat is palmitic acis, with 16 carbons and Mol Wt=256 g/mol. All is used for energy production. Assume you have 1x10^12 cells in your body. Glucose is digested to pyruvate in the cytosol, transported to the mitochondria, converted to acetyl-CoA and then oxidazed in the TCA cycle. It will initially produce ATP, NADH, FADH2 and GTP. ultimately, one molecule of glucose gives you 30 ATP. Palmitic acid is transported to the mitochondria, where it undergoes 8 rounds of the bete-oxidation cycle, producing 8 acetyl-CoA, which is then oxidated in the TCA cycle. Ultimately, one molecule of palmitic acid gives you 131 ATP. Avogrado\'s number is 6x10^23.

1. How many molecules of ATP does each cell get? 2. Cells burn ATP at an average rate of 2.5x10^9 molecules/second. How long will the ATP last?

Solution

Ans. Given, only carbohydrate and fats are metabolized to produce ATP.

I. Moles of Palmitic acid = Mass / molar mass

                                    = 29.0 g/ (256 g mol^-1)

                                    = 0.1133 mol

Moles of ATP produced = Moles of palmitic acid x its ATP production rate

                                    = 0.1133 mol palmitic acid x (131 mol ATP/ mol of palmitic acid)

                                    = 14.8423 mol ATP

II. Moles of glucose = Mass / molar mass

                                    = 46.0 g/ (180 g mol^-1)

                                    = 0.2556 mol

Moles of ATP produced = Moles of glucose x its ATP production rate

                                    = 0.2556 mol glucose x (30 mol ATP/ mol of glucose)

                                    = 7.6667 mol ATP.

III. Total moles of ATP produced= ATP from palmitic acid + ATP from glucose

                                                14.8423 mol + 7.6667 mol

                                                = 22.509 mol ATP

Number of ATP molecules = Moles of ATP x Avogadro number

                                    = 22.509 mol x (6 x 10²³ molecules/ mol)

                                    = 1.35 x 10²⁵ molecules.

Assuming even distribution, number of ATP molecules per cells =

                        Total number of ATP molecules / number of cells in body

                        = (1.35 x 10²⁵ ATP) / (1 x10¹² cells)

                        = 1.35 x 10¹³ ATP/ cell

Thus, each get gets 1.35 x 10¹³ molecules of ATP.