Question

Imagine the interior of the thylakoids in isolated chloroplasts were made acidic and then the chloroplasts were transferred in the dark to a solution with a pH of 8. What would be likely to happen

Answer 1

Answer:

The isolated chloroplasts will produce ATP.

Explanation:

During the electron transport chain, photosynthetic chloroplasts produce a proton (H+) gradient across the thylakoid membrane and then they use the energy of this gradient to synthesize ATP via ATP synthase. The acidification induced by light in the thylakoid lumen is known to impede the electron flow between photosystems, whose work is to absorb and transfer the light energy by transferring electrons. At a pH of 8, the concentration of protons is larger in the thylakoids (i.e., in the thylakoid lumens), thereby protons will move down the concentration gradient from the thylakoids to the stroma, the space outside the thylakoid membranes. This flow of protons by ATP synthase will be used to produce ATP.