Commonly confused

ETC inhibitors vs Uncouplers

The tell

Inhibitors (rotenone, antimycin A, cyanide — and oligomycin at ATP synthase) halt the machinery, so O₂ consumption falls. Uncouplers (2,4-DNP, thermogenin) collapse the gradient, so O₂ consumption rises and the energy leaves as heat, not ATP.

Pairs like this are where exam points go missing — the concepts are fine, the labels swap. Retrieval fixes it faster than rereading: the daily quiz mixes confusable pairs into every set.

Today’s daily quiz All confusable pairs