I just thought it would be cool to restart the occasional “Tossup of the Day” column to look at some of the questions I have written over the past couple of years.

Here’s one for today:

This tossup is from the Minnesota 1 packet used at the 2009 incarnation of the Minnesota Undergraduate Tournament. I have modified it slightly to make it better grammatically.

It can be decoupled by compounds such as 2,4-di-nitro-phenol and FCCP or the protein thermogenin, whereas Rotenon and Antimycin inhibit it. Diseases such as Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy and MERRF occur due to mutations in genes which control this process. The Krebs cycle uses a same enzyme as one used in it, (*) succinate dehydrogenase, and it sees coenzyme Q and cytochrome C mediate its namesake particle transfer. Resulting in the formation of a proton gradient, for 10 points, name this respiratory process which uses a chemical gradient to power the addition of a phosphate group to ADP by ATP synthase and also sees the formation of water.
ANSWER: oxidative phosphorylation [or electron transport chain; or ETC]

Feel free to comment or whatever.

GK