ATP is the energy currency of cells that temporarily stores energy in its covalent bonds. When a cell needs energy, ATP is hydrolyzed to ADP and a phosphate group, releasing energy. The reverse reaction adds a phosphate to ADP to regenerate ATP. Coupled reactions link ATP hydrolysis to other reactions requiring energy. ATP is analogous to a battery - it provides versatile energy but must be continually recycled through respiration. While cells use huge amounts of ATP per minute, it is not stored long-term due to instability. Instead, cells store lipids and carbohydrates to regenerate ATP supplies through cellular respiration as needed.
ATP is the energy currency of cells that temporarily stores energy in its covalent bonds. When a cell needs energy, ATP is hydrolyzed to ADP and a phosphate group, releasing energy. The reverse reaction adds a phosphate to ADP to regenerate ATP. Coupled reactions link ATP hydrolysis to other reactions requiring energy. ATP is analogous to a battery - it provides versatile energy but must be continually recycled through respiration. While cells use huge amounts of ATP per minute, it is not stored long-term due to instability. Instead, cells store lipids and carbohydrates to regenerate ATP supplies through cellular respiration as needed.
ATP is the energy currency of cells that temporarily stores energy in its covalent bonds. When a cell needs energy, ATP is hydrolyzed to ADP and a phosphate group, releasing energy. The reverse reaction adds a phosphate to ADP to regenerate ATP. Coupled reactions link ATP hydrolysis to other reactions requiring energy. ATP is analogous to a battery - it provides versatile energy but must be continually recycled through respiration. While cells use huge amounts of ATP per minute, it is not stored long-term due to instability. Instead, cells store lipids and carbohydrates to regenerate ATP supplies through cellular respiration as needed.
ATP is the energy currency of cells that temporarily stores energy in its covalent bonds. When a cell needs energy, ATP is hydrolyzed to ADP and a phosphate group, releasing energy. The reverse reaction adds a phosphate to ADP to regenerate ATP. Coupled reactions link ATP hydrolysis to other reactions requiring energy. ATP is analogous to a battery - it provides versatile energy but must be continually recycled through respiration. While cells use huge amounts of ATP per minute, it is not stored long-term due to instability. Instead, cells store lipids and carbohydrates to regenerate ATP supplies through cellular respiration as needed.
All cells contain a maze of interlocking chemical reaction, some releasing energy and the others absorbing it. For example, digesting a snack releases energy. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the energy currency used throughout the cell. ATP temporarily stores the energy in its covalent bonds then uses the energy to power reactions that require energy input such as mechanical work, transport substances across the membrane and perform various chemical reactions. ATP is composed of phosphate groups, a ribose and adenine. In the structure of ATP, there are three phosphate groups attached to adenosine. The last two bonds on the phosphate groups contain especially high energy and are therefore very useful for doing work within living cells. The bonds that hold phosphate groups are easily broken by hydrolysis which results in the release of energy.
Figure 1: ATP’s Chemical Structure. ATP is a nucleotide consisting of adenine, ribose and three phosphate groups.
A. Energy in ATP is Critical to the Life of a Cell
ATP is a type of nucleotide (figure 1). Its components are the nitrogen containing base adenine, the five-carbon sugar ribose, and three phosphate groups (PO4). The negative charges on neighboring phosphate groups repel one another, making the molecule unstable. It therefore releases energy when the covalent bonds between the phosphates break. All cells depend on the potential energy in ATP to power their activities. When a cell requires energy for a chemical reaction, it “spends” ATP by removing the endmost phosphate group (figure 2). The products of this hydrolysis reaction are adenosine diphosphate (ADP, in which only two phosphate groups remain attached to ribose), the liberated phosphate Figure 2: ATP Hydrolysis. Removing the endmost phosphate group of group, and a burst of energy: ATP yields ADP and a free phosphate group. The cell uses the released energy to do work. ATP + H2O ADP + P + energy In the reverse situation, energy can be temporarily stored by adding a phosphate to ADP, forming ATP and water: ADP + P + energy ATP + H2O The energy for this reaction comes from molecules broken down in other reactions, such as those in cellular respiration.
These reactions are fundamental to biology because ATP is the “go
between” that links reactions that require energy input with those that release energy. Coupled reactions, as their name implies, are simultaneous reactions in which one provides the energy that drives the other (figure 3). ATP hydrolysis is coupled to the reactions that require energy input, such as those that do work or synthesize new molecules.
Figure 3: Coupled Reactions. Cells use ATP hydrolysis, a How does this coupling work? A cell uses ATP as an energy source by transferring its phosphate group to another molecule. This reaction that releases energy, to fuel reactions that require transfer may have either of two effects (figure 4). In one scenario, the energy input. The cell regenerates ATP in other reactions, such as cellular respiration. presence of the phosphate may energize the target molecule, making it more likely to bond with other molecules. The other possible consequence is a change in the shape of the target molecule. For example, adding phosphate can force a protein to take a different shape; removing phosphate returns the protein to its original form. Changing the shape back and forth may allow the protein to shuttle substances across a membrane. ATP hydrolysis provides the energy. ATP is sometimes described as energy "currency." Just as you can use money to purchase a variety of different products, all cells use ATP in many chemical reactions to do different kinds of work. Besides, transporting substances across cell membranes, other examples of jobs that require ATP include muscle contraction, moving chromosomes during cell division, and synthesizing the large molecules that make up cells. ATP is also analogous to a fully charged rechargeable battery. A full battery represents a versatile source of potential energy that can provide power to many types of electronic devices. Although a dead battery is no longer useful as an energy source, you can recharge a spent battery to restore its utility. Likewise, the cell can use respiration to rebuild its pool of ATP.
B. ATP Represents Short-Term Energy Storage
Organisms require huge amounts of ATP. A typical human cell uses the equivalent of 2 billion ATP molecules a minute just to stay alive. Organisms recycle ATP at a furious pace, adding phosphate groups to ADP to reconstitute ATP, using the ATP to drive reactions, and turning over the entire supply every minute or so. If you ran out of ATP, you would die instantly.
Figure 4: ATP Use. When ATP donates a phosphate group to a molecule, the recipient may (a) be more likely to bond or (b) change its shape in a useful way.
Even though ATP is essential to life, cells do not stockpile it in large quantities. ATP's high-energy phosphate bonds make the molecule too unstable for long-term storage. Instead, cells store energy-rich molecules such as fats, starch, and glycogen. When ATP supplies run low, cells divert some of their lipid and carbohydrate reserves to the metabolic pathways of cellular respiration. This process soon produces additional ATP.
