1

Anne Gelli L. Lauron, LFT, LPT

Special Science Teacher I
 Adenosine Triphospate
• It is the major energy currency of
the cell
• Provides the energy for most of the
energy-consuming activities of the
• cell
• Regulates many biochemical
pathways.
• It is composed of the nitrogen
base ADENINE, the pentose (5C)
sugar RIBOSE, and three
PHOSPHATE groups
• The LAST phosphate group is
bonded with a HIGH ENERGY
chemical bond
• This bond can be BROKEN to
release ENERGY for CELLS to
use
 Is ATP a
nucleotide?
an appreciable amount of energy
is released when one of the
phosphate bonds of ATP is
broken in a hydrolysis (water-
mediated breakdown) reaction.
The energy released by
hydrolysis (breakdown) of ATP
is used to power many energy-
requiring cellular reactions.
ATP powers most energy-consuming activities of
cells, such as:

• joining transfer RNAs to amino acids for

assembly into proteins
• synthesis of nucleoside triphosphates for
assembly into DNA and RNA
• synthesis of polysaccharides
• synthesis of fats
• active transport of molecules and ions
ATP powers most energy-consuming activities of
cells, such as:

• conduction of nerve impulses

• maintenance of cell volume by osmosis
• addition of phosphate groups
(phosphorylation) to different proteins (e.g., to
alter their activity in cell signaling)
• muscle contraction
• beating of cilia and flagella (including sperm)
• bioluminescence
 Is ATP a
renewable
resource?
ATP-ADP CYCLE
 Why is
regeneration of
ATP important?
• occurs in the cytosol by
glycolysis
• occurs in mitochondria by
cellular respiration
• occurs in chloroplasts by
photosynthesis
• Energy+ADP + Pi → ATP + H2O
• requires energy: 7.3 kcal/mole
Regeneration of ATP is
important because cells tend to
use up (hydrolyze) ATP
molecules very quickly and rely
on replacement ATP being
constantly produced.