Which of the following statements must be true in order for mitochondrial atp synthase to function properly?
1) the ph of the intermembrane space must be higher than the ph of the mitochondrial matrix.
2) there must be no difference in ph between the mitochondrial matrix and the intermembrane space.
3) the ph of the intermembrane space must be lower than the ph of the mitochondrial matrix.

Answer;

The pH of the intermembrane space must be lower than the pH of the mitochondrial matrix.

Explanation;During chemiosmosis 10 protons are shuffled from the matrix to intermembrane space. This generates a pH gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane, with the pH higher in the matrix than in the cytosol, where the pH is generally close to 7.The pH of the intermembrane space is lower than the pH of the mitochondrial matrix. The electrochemical proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane is used to drive ATP synthesis in the critical process of oxidative phosphorylation.

Proteins are the workhorses of the cell, controlling virtually every reaction within as well as providing structure and serving as signals to other cells. proteins are long chains of  amino acids  , and the exact sequence of the amino acids determines the final structure and function of the protein. instructions for that sequence are encoded in  genes  . to make a particular protein, a messenger ribonucleic acid (mrna) copy is made from the gene (in the process called  transcription  ), and the mrna is transported to the  ribosome  . protein synthesis, also called  translation  , begins when the two ribosomal subunits link onto the mrna. this step, called initiation, is followed by elongation, in which successive amino acids are added to the growing chain, brought in by transfer rnas (trnas). in this step, the ribosome reads the  nucleotides  of mrna three by three, in units called  codons  , and matches each to three nucleotides on the trna, called the anticodon. finally, during termination, the ribosome unbinds from the mrna, and the  amino acid  chain goes on to be processed and folded to make the final, functional protein