pH Correlation to ATP Production Rate of Mitochondria

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of this project is to develop a new protocol to track ATP production in mitochondrion cells and use it to determine which pH level, acid-4, base-10, or neutral, will increase the ATP production rate of mitochondria most positively. Methods/Materials Celery mitochondria were exposed to pH conditions: acid-4, base-10 and neutral. The mitochondria were stained with Janus Green B, and a sucrose solution was added. ATP production rate of mitochondria was tracked by developing a new protocol of using a spectrometer (a device that measures and the light wavelength of Janus Green B to track mitochondrion activity. Results The acidic celery cells continually rose in absorbency level, reaching up to 0.042 Absorpency (A). The neutral celery cells remained stable throughout at 0.002 A. The basic celery cells had an initial jump to 0.012 A, but then eventually dropped to 0.005 A. Conclusions/Discussion Janus Green stains active mitochondrion cells, which allows a spectrometer to detect ATP production activity. When the spectrometer measures absorbency, it also measures the amount of activity. This means that the greater the absorbency, the greater the amount of activity of the mitochondrion. The greater amount of activity of the mitochondrion signifies that it produces more ATP. The results support the conclusion that an acidic 4 solution most positively impacts the rate of ATP production in mitochondria. The hypothesis was correct. These data suggests possible applications for low energy individuals and plant growth under acidic conditions. The results of the experiment expand our knowledge of ATP production rates of mitochondrion by demonstrating that mitochondrion are more effective in an acidic environment and a largely basic environment can eventually hinder ATP production.

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology · Entry S0405

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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