Knowra Adenosine triphosphate Adenosine triphosphate Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleotide that cells use to transfer chemical energy. Its hydrolysis can drive muscle contraction, active transport, and biosynthesis.
ATP hydrolysis : A reaction that breaks ATP into ADP and inorganic phosphate, releasing free energy under cellular conditions. This reaction supplies usable free energy for many ATP-powered processes.
Myosin : A motor protein that converts chemical energy into movement along actin filaments. Myosin hydrolyzes ATP during the force-generating cycle of muscle contraction.
Nucleotide : A molecular unit composed of a nitrogenous base, a sugar, and one or more phosphate groups. ATP is one nucleotide, with adenine, ribose, and three phosphates.
Oxidative phosphorylation : The mitochondrial process that uses electron transport and a proton gradient to produce ATP. It generates most ATP in many oxygen-using eukaryotic cells.
Extracellular ATP : ATP released outside cells, where it can act as a signaling molecule through purinergic receptors. ATP also carries information between cells, not only energy within them.
Phosphorylation : The addition of a phosphate group to a molecule, often changing its activity or chemical properties. ATP commonly powers reactions by transferring its terminal phosphate to another molecule.
Sodium-potassium pump : A membrane protein that uses ATP to move sodium out of cells and potassium into them. Its ATP consumption maintains ion gradients across the plasma membrane.
Adenosine diphosphate : A nucleotide with adenine, ribose, and two phosphate groups, formed when ATP loses a phosphate. ADP is ATP’s principal product after energy-releasing phosphate removal.
Glycolysis : A metabolic pathway that breaks glucose into pyruvate while producing ATP and NADH. It supplies ATP quickly without requiring oxygen-dependent mitochondrial respiration.
Purinergic signaling : Cell communication mediated by extracellular nucleotides and nucleosides acting on purinergic receptors. This signaling system explains ATP’s effects outside the cell.
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