Discussion of all aspects of cellular structure, physiology and communication.
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That is certainly not true. If the optimum temperature of the enzyme is bigger than the body temperature, turning up the temperature might make the reactions proceed faster, but certainly the same amount of amount of energy is released, and the same 2 ATP/glucose are produced. It's like driving a car: the really expensive purified fuel might get you better performance than the cheap water-containing one, but you still get to the same place.
"As a biologist, I firmly believe that when you're dead, you're dead. Except for what you live behind in history. That's the only afterlife" - J. Craig Venter
The rate of any reaction depends on the active masses of the reactants, the pH and the temperature. This applies to the biological reactions involving enzymes like cellular respiration
The enzymes in general get more and more active as the temperature increases. This would be true till the temperature reaches up to 45 degree Celsius (in general for humans). Above which some enzymes denature and their activity completely drops off. This temperature is variable and is dependent on the enzyme. (A few enzymes are active even at high temperatures). But at 65 degree Celsius most of the intracellular enzymes are denatured.
So as the temperature increases, the cellular respiration increases up to a certain point and then there is a sharp decline so at or after 65 degree Celsius cellular respiration is virtually impossible.
If you're talking about the rate of respiration inside your body (instead of purified components in a test tube), you'll also have to remember homeostasis - the body will keep itself at 37 for as long as possible as the temperature changes, so that the reactions won't be affected. If your body temperature actually reached 45 degrees, you would already be dead or in serious need of medical attention.
The actual rate of respiration in any given cell will also be under very strong regulation in other ways - if a cell doesn't need more energy, it will just turn off the pathway, if it needs only a little, it will mostly turn off the pathway, if it needs a lot, it will turn the pathway up to maximum, and so forth. (And of course, there are other factors that the cell will respond to as well.)
6 posts • Page 1 of 1
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