Non-equilibrium thermodynamic sensitivity of oxidative phosphorylation

A new method was developed to analyse the dynamic properties of oxidative phosphorylation, in particular the sensitivity of the phosphate potential with respect to fluctuating cellular ATP utilization. This treatment is based on the eigenvalue sensitivity analysis of an experimentally supported non-equilibrium thermodynamic model of oxidative phosphorylation. Such an analysis allows direct access to the kinetic information, while circumventing the awkward conventional numerical integration of a set of nonlinear differential equations. This procedure revealed, for the parameters characteristic for liver of starved rats in vivo, that the sensitivity of oxidative phosphorylation to a fluctuating ATP utilization is minimal at a degree of coupling q = 0.95. This means that the phosphate potential is highly buffered with respect to fluctuating energy demands at the degree of coupling. This value of q agrees well with the degree of coupling qeef, at which net ATP production of oxidative phosphorylation--at optimal efficiency--occurs in the most economic way. This simultaneous maximization of kinetic stability and economic thermodynamic efficiency at the same degree of coupling appears to be a coincidence.