Oxidative Phosphorylation

Abstract Oxidative phosphorylation is the process by which much of the energy released by the oxidation of highly reduced foodstuffs is conserved in the phosphorylation of adenosine diphosphate to yield adenosine triphosphate. Oxidative phosphorylation occurs in the mitochondria of eukaryotes and in the cell membrane of some prokaryotes: it depends, uniquely, on the creation of a gradient of hydrogen ions across a membrane (chemiosmosis).