In the presence of O2, oxidative phosphorylation is a process of ATP synthesis resulting from the reoxidation of electron carriers in the presence of O2. In this section we describe oxidative phosphorylation as it occurs in mitochondria, but the same process occurs in prokaryotes (see Table 9.1).
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Chemiosmosis converts the potential energy of a proton concentration gradient to chemical energy in ATP.
Experimental results demonstrated the relationship between a proton gradient across a membrane and ATP synthesis.