Mitochondria

[coezooke]

I have a quick question regarding the mitochondria

'The folded internal membranes of the mitochondria have many stalked particles on their innermost surfaces. Given the function of the mitochondria and where most reactions occur, what advantage might the presence of these particles be for production of ATP in the organelle?'

The only answer I could really think of to this was that the particles are increasing the surface area to volume ratio of the organelle which would increase that rate at which the reaction occurs and thereby create an increase in the production of ATP? Is this even slightly correct? If so, how can I describe it better.

Thanks 

[Stick]

This question didn't necessarily refer to specific knowledge covered in Chapter 2 of Nature of Biology, but instead just wanted to test your overall biological reasoning skills. If I recall correctly, your answer was the solution provided by Jacaranda so you've completed the task perfectly. Well done!

This will be covered in more detail in Chapter 3 so this will make a lot more sense then.

[coezooke]

Awesome, thank you!

[Daenerys Targaryen]

The inner membranes of the mitochondria is where the electron transport chain occurs. This process produces the most ATP. Thus being 'stalked' it increase SA; thus faster production of ATP.

so yeah you were pretty much spot on

[Yacoubb]

The cristae of the mitochondrion is the site of the electron transport chain - here, the most ATP molecules are produced per glucose molecule. By having stalked cristae, the SA:V ratio increases, and by doing so, you actually increase the rate of ATP production, which gives the cell more energy in a shorter time, and enables the cell to function effectively in the long run.

Analogy - a road.

If your road is straight, you're going to have many cars waiting and they'll be late for work, making the big bosses at work really angry. But if that road had many different exit lanes to different suburbs rather than one particular lane that eventually leads to different roads, the process of cars moving would increase + they would get to work faster than precedented.