Past exam of the biochemistry and Molecular Biology course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / Paper 2 / Section B / 12 / d

At low ATP demand, the proton-motive force is high and much of the remaining oxygen consumption supports proton leak. Increasing leak conductance then creates a substantial extra demand for proton pumping and strongly changes respiratory flux. At high phosphorylation demand, proton return through ATP synthase is large, the proton-motive force is lower, and leak contributes a much smaller part of total proton return. Control of oxygen consumption shifts toward substrate supply and the respiratory machinery, so the leak flux control coefficient becomes small. The plot's value near zero does not mean that the physical leak current vanishes; the separate maximal-rate table likewise gives a small nonzero coefficient, $0.04$.