Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleoside triphosphate [2] that provides energy to drive and support many processes in living cells, such as muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, and chemical synthesis. Found in all known forms of life, it is often referred to as the "molecular unit of currency" for intracellular energy transfer. [3]
The chemical energy stored in ATP (the bond of its third phosphate group to the rest of the molecule can be broken allowing more stable products to form, thereby releasing energy for use by the cell) can then be used to drive processes requiring energy, including biosynthesis, locomotion or transportation of molecules across cell membranes.
Structure of ATP Structure of ADP Four possible resonance structures for inorganic phosphate. ATP hydrolysis is the catabolic reaction process by which chemical energy that has been stored in the high-energy phosphoanhydride bonds in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is released after splitting these bonds, for example in muscles, by producing work in the form of mechanical energy.
ATP is the only type of usable form of chemical energy for musculoskeletal activity. It is stored in most cells, particularly in muscle cells. Other forms of chemical energy, such as those available from oxygen and food, must be transformed into ATP before they can be utilized by the muscle cells.
The energy from the redox reactions creates an electrochemical proton gradient that drives the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In aerobic respiration, the flow of electrons terminates with molecular oxygen as the final electron acceptor.
Potential energy can be thought of as stored energy, or usable energy that is available to do work. Kinetic energy is the energy of an object as a result of its motion. The significance of ATP is in its ability to store potential energy within the phosphate bonds. The energy stored between these bonds can then be transferred to do work.
Cells undergoing aerobic respiration produce 6 molecules of carbon dioxide, 6 molecules of water, and up to 30 molecules of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is directly used to produce energy, from each molecule of glucose in the presence of surplus oxygen.
The energy from the acetyl group, in the form of electrons, is used to reduce NAD+ and FAD to NADH and FADH 2, respectively. NADH and FADH 2 contain the stored energy harnessed from the initial glucose molecule and is used in the electron transport chain where the bulk of the ATP is produced. [1]