The flight muscles of game birds rely almost entirely on the use of glucose 1-ph

Question

The flight muscles of game birds rely almost entirely on the use of glucose 1-phosphate for energy, in the form of ATP. The glucose 1-phosphate is formed by the breakdown of stored muscle glycogen, catalyzed by the enzyme glycogen phosphorylase. The rate of ATP production is limited by the rate at which glycogen can be broken down. During a "panic flight", the game bird's rate of glycogen breakdown is quite high, approx 120 micromol/min of glucose 1-phosphate produced per gram of fresh tissue. Given that the flight muscles usually contain about 0.35% glycogen by weight, calculate how long a game bird can fly. (Assume the avg molecular weight of a glucose residue in glycogen is 162 g/mol).

*Please help work out step by step!!! The answer is 11 seconds just no idea how to calculate!

Explanation / Answer

Given the average molecular weight of a glucose residue = 162g/mol,

The amount of usable glucose in moles (as glycogen) in 1 g of tissue = 0.35% of 162g/mol

= (0.35 /100) of 162 = 0.0035 of 162 g/mol
= 0.0035 g /162 g/mol = 2.2 * 10^-5 moles

Now, In 1 min, 120 micro mol of glucose 1-phosphate is produced, that means 120 micromol of glucose is hydrolyzed.
Thus, depletion of the glycogen would occur in

2.2 * 10^-5 moles * 60s/min / 120 * 10 ^-6 mol/min

= 10.8 sec = 11 seconds

Thus the game bird can fly only for 11 seconds

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