Cell currency

ATP is often seen as the universal cell currency. An energy-harvesting machinery couples the conversion of glucose and other foods to, ultimately, carbon dioxide and water to the resynthesis of ATP from ADP. (Biochemists often refer to this process as combustion, in an echo of nineteenth-century ideas of what is involved.) The ATP thus produced is simultaneously reconverted to ADP in a host of metabolic processes that use it to convert metabolites into one another. Although ATP and ADP are themselves metabolites it is often convenient to put them in a separate class, the coenzymes, that instead of... 

The fourth way of getting around the difficulty may seem less general, but it is important because so many metabolic reactions involve ATP, and because the status of ATP as the cell currency means that quite small changes in ATP concentration can provide the cell with important clues to changes in metabolic circumstances. I mentioned in Chapter 1 that in addition to ATP and ADP there was a third member of the adenine nucleotide family, AMP, with just one phospho group. However, other than mentioning that it participated in fewer... 

Ill these simultaneous reactions, die energy released when the complex molecule AB is broken down is immediately used to build a molecule of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from a molecule of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and an inorganic phosphate (P,). ATP is a high energy compound. It is called the energy currency of the body because once it is formed, it provides energy that the body can spend later to drive vital reactions in cells (Figure 1). 

HIGH-ENERGY PHOSPHATES ACT AS THE "ENERGY CURRENCY" OF THE CELL... 

ATP acts as the energy currency of the cell, transferring free energy derived from substances of higher energy potential to those of lower energy potential. 

The only element that was discovered in body fluids (urine). This is plausible, as P plays a main role in all life processes. It is one of the five elements that make up DNA (besides C, H, N, and 0 evolution did not require anything else to code all life). The P-O-P bond, phosphoric acid anhydride, is the universal energy currency in cells. The skeletons of mammals consists of Ca phosphate (hydroxylapatite). The element is encountered in several allotropic modifications white phosphorus (soft, pyrophoric P4, very toxic), red phosphorus (nontoxic, used to make the striking surface of matchboxes), black phosphorus (formed under high pressures). Phosphates are indispensable as fertilizer, but less desirable in washing agents as the waste water is too concentrated with this substance (eutrophication). It has a rich chemistry, is the basis for powerful insecticides, but also for warfare agents. A versatile element. 

A unified model for mechanotransduction allows comparison of mechanoreceptors from many organisms and cell types. Mechanoreceptors nearly universally use ion channels for transducing sensory information. Mechanoreceptors are either neurons or are neuroepithelial cells with synapses, and the currency of the nervous system is the membrane potential. Opening an ion channel allows a cell quickly and extensively to modulate its membrane potential, and hence neurotransmitter release, the final step in mechanoreception at the cellular level. 

Citric acid gives its name to citrus fruits (lemons, Umes, oranges), all of which contain high concentrations of this acid. Citric acid is also a principal player in the metabolism of carbohydrates and the generation of ATP, the energy currency of the cell. 

All eukaryotic cells possess subcellular organelles known as mitochondria. The central function of the mitochondria, though not the only one, is to produce ATP, the cellular energy currency, coupled to the oxidation of food-derived molecules. 

A central consequence of glycolysis is the production of limited quantities of ATP, the energy currency of the cell. Specifically, the sum total of the glycolytic pathway from D-glucose to lactate is ... 

ATP a molecule that serves as the energy currency of the cell. 

Two papers reported powder pattern crystallographic results. The paper by Santos et al. (7) stood out from the rest because it presented a collection of more classical physical chemistry experiments. In this paper the authors described the use of micro-combustion calorimetry, Knudsen effusion to determine enthalpy of sublimation, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and computed entropies. While this paper may provide some justification for including bomb calorimetry and Knudsen cell experiments in student laboratories, the use of differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffraction also are alternatives that would make for a crowded curriculum. Thus, how can we choose content for the first physical chemistiy course that shows the currency of the discipline while maintaining the goal to teach the fundamentals and standard techniques as well ... 

ATP is a crucial intermediate for cells to maintain normal activities without a minimum level, the cell will die as systems will fail. ATP is the energy currency of the cell and is required for the synthesis of many substances such as macromolecules for structural and functional purposes, which the cell needs, but also for processes such as cell division, maintenance of the correct ionic balance, muscular and electrical activity, ciliary movement, membrane transporters, and specific ion channels. 

Nucleotides have a variety of roles in cellular metabolism. They are the energy currency in metabolic transactions, the essential chemical links in the response of cells to hormones and other extracellular stimuli, and the structural components of an array of enzyme cofactors and metabolic intermediates. And, last but certainly not least, they are the constituents of nucleic acids deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (ENA), the molecular repositories of genetic information. The structure of every protein, and ultimately of every biomolecule and cellular component, is a product of information programmed into the nucleotide sequence of a cell s nucleic acids. The ability to store and transmit genetic information from one generation to the next is a fundamental condition for life. 

ATP is the chemical link between catabolism and anabolism. It is the energy currency of the living cell. The exergonic conversion of ATP to ADP and Pi, or to AMP and PPi, is coupled to many endergonic reactions and processes. 

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