Wiktionary
n. (context biochemistry neurotransmitter English) a nucleotide that is used as a source of energy in cellular reactions, in the synthesis of nucleic acids(,) and as a neurotransmitter recognised by purinergic receptors
WordNet
n. a nucleotide derived from adenosine that occurs in muscle tissue; the major source of energy for cellular reactions [syn: ATP]
Wikipedia
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleoside triphosphate, a small but surprising molecule used in cells as a coenzyme often called the " molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer.
ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism. Most cellular functions need energy to be carried out: synthesis of proteins, synthesis of membranes, movement of the cell, cellular division, etc., etc., need energy in order to be made. The ATP is the molecule that carries energy to the place where the energy is needed. When ATP breaks into ADP + Pi, (Adenosine diphosphate) the breakdown of the last covalent link of phosphate (a simple -P04), liberates a lot of energy that is used as energy in the reaction where is needed.
It is one of the end products of photophosphorylation, aerobic respiration, and fermentation, and is used by enzymes and structural proteins in many cellular processes, including biosynthetic reactions, motility, and cell division. One molecule of ATP contains adenosine, ribose, and three phosphate groups, and it is produced by a wide variety of enzymes, including ATP synthase, from adenosine diphosphate (ADP) or adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and various phosphate group donors. Substrate-level phosphorylation, oxidative phosphorylation in cellular respiration, and photophosphorylation in photosynthesis are three major mechanisms of ATP biosynthesis.
Metabolic processes that use ATP as an energy source convert it back into its precursors. ATP is therefore continuously recycled in organisms: the human body, which on average contains only of ATP, turns over its own body weight equivalent in ATP each day.
ATP is used as a substrate in signal transduction pathways by kinases that phosphorylate proteins and lipids. It is also used by adenylate cyclase, which uses ATP to produce the second messenger molecule cyclic AMP. The ratio between ATP and AMP is used as a way for a cell to sense how much energy is available and control the metabolic pathways that produce and consume ATP. Apart from its roles in signaling and energy metabolism, ATP is also incorporated into nucleic acids by polymerases in the process of transcription. ATP is the neurotransmitter believed to signal the sense of taste.
The structure of this molecule consists of a purine base ( adenine) attached by the 9′ nitrogen atom to the 1′ carbon atom of a pentose sugar ( ribose). Three phosphate groups are attached at the 5′ carbon atom of the pentose sugar. It is the addition and removal of these phosphate groups that inter-convert ATP, ADP and AMP. When ATP is used in DNA synthesis, the ribose sugar is first converted to deoxyribose by ribonucleotide reductase.
ATP was discovered in 1929 by Karl Lohmann, and independently by Cyrus Fiske and Yellapragada Subbarow of Harvard Medical School, but its correct structure was not determined until some years later. It was proposed to be the intermediary molecule between energy-yielding and energy-requiring reactions in cells by Fritz Albert Lipmann in 1941. It was first artificially synthesized by Alexander Todd in 1948.
Usage examples of "adenosine triphosphate".
The microvoltage of the phosphorylation of adenosine diphosphate to adenosine triphosphate in the cells' chlorophyll tingles his fingersensors when he feels for it.
Never in your life will you have to remind a cell to keep an eye on its adenosine triphosphate levels or to find a place for the extra squirt of folic acid that’.
I made the ship the electric duplicate of a D-glucose molecule and hoped the cell would do the normal thing and interact with a molecule of ATP -- adenosine triphosphate.
Much of it is initially employed to synthesize one of biochemistry's key modules, adenosine triphosphate (universally abbreviated by biochemists to ATP).
But if one were to electrically stimulate the perforant pathway to the hippocampus, and get a great deal of adenosine triphosphate past the blood-brain barrier, for instance, thus stimulating the long-term potentiation that aided learning in the first place.
The energy liberated by the oxidization of the products of cytoplasmic metabolism is converted into adenosine triphosphate .
Llewellyn should have noted the stage of rigor mortis or stiffness, which occurs when the body no longer produces the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) needed for muscles to contract.
Your bodies break down the bonds of carbon-containing molecules, and a significant portion of the food's potential energy is repackaged into the phosphate bonds of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).