electron transport chain

[bionut720]

What is the role of the electron transport chain in producing a proton gradient and the NADPH and ATP.

[SU_reptile]

You see ETC's role is to produce ATP and reoxidise dinucleotides that may be used in turn in other metabolic pathways.
That's achieved by the fact that carriers comprsing the ETC take electrones from dinucleotides and transport them to some molecule that may be reduced (oxigen in animals for example). Electrone transport is connected with pumping of protons from the mitochondrial matrix to the intermembranal space resulting in increase of H+ concentration in that region. The proton gradient is in turn used by ATP-synthase to produce ATP. Each 3 protons contribute to production of 1 ATP molecule.