Assume that the organism is living areobically and that one molecule of glucose oxidized completely to 6 CO2 generates 30 molecules of ATP, how many glucose molecules must be oxidized to supply the energy for the synthesis of all these different nucleic acids during one cycle.
To determine the number of glucose molecules required to supply the energy for the synthesis of all the different nucleic acids, we need to know how much energy is needed for this synthesis.
Nucleic acids are composed of nucleotides, which consist of a sugar molecule, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base. The synthesis of nucleotides requires energy in the form of ATP.
First, let's find out how much ATP is required to synthesize one nucleotide. The process of nucleotide synthesis varies depending on the specific nucleotide being produced (e.g., adenine, cytosine, thymine, etc.), but let's assume that synthesizing one nucleotide requires 3 ATP molecules.
Now, let's determine how many ATP molecules are needed to synthesize all the nucleotides in one cycle. This will depend on the number of nucleotides needed for each type of nucleic acid (e.g., DNA or RNA) and the total number of nucleic acids synthesized.
Let's assume we are synthesizing DNA and that each DNA molecule contains 1000 nucleotides. Therefore, to synthesize one DNA molecule, we would need 3 ATP molecules per nucleotide × 1000 nucleotides = 3000 ATP molecules.
Now, let's assume that in one cycle, we need to synthesize a total of 10 DNA molecules. In this case, we would need 3000 ATP molecules per DNA molecule × 10 DNA molecules = 30,000 ATP molecules.
Given that one molecule of glucose oxidized completely generates 30 ATP molecules, we can calculate the number of glucose molecules required to supply the energy for nucleic acid synthesis.
Number of glucose molecules = Total ATP required / ATP per glucose molecule
Number of glucose molecules = 30,000 ATP molecules / 30 ATP molecules per glucose molecule
Number of glucose molecules = 1000 glucose molecules
Therefore, to supply the energy for the synthesis of all the different nucleic acids during one cycle, approximately 1000 glucose molecules must be oxidized.