Ch. 5.2 - Energy and ATP

• adenosine triphosphate (A-3-P) - there is a negative charge associated with al of the oxygens that are single bonded to P=highly unstable

• adenine (same nitrogenous base in DNA and RNA + ribose + 3 phosphates • each of the phosphates has a slight negative change which makes it highly unstable • energy is released when hydrolysis cleaves off one of the phosphates

addition of phosphate group (PO4)

the formation of ATP requires energy so it must be coupled to an energy generation process such as photosynthesis or oxidation of food molecules

• releases a large amount of energy • even though a lot of energy is released, its a highly stable molecule. it only releases its energy in the presents of ATPase

phosphorylation reactions provide energy to drive endergonic synthesis of products

• transfer of PO4 to a motor protein in a muscle cell • causes protein to change shape and pull on protein filaments causing muscles to contract • a working muscle cell may consume and regenerate 10 million ATP/sec

alter configuration of transport proteins

all of the thousands of exergonic and endergonic reactions

series of chemical reactions that build or breaks down complex molecules

some of the useful energy is lost (most often as heat)