Biology Unit 3.1 - The Importance of ATP Flashcards
What is ATP?
Major energy currency of the cell, which provides energy for most reactions in all cells, in all cellular organisms
How does ATP carry energy?
Glucose is broken down by enzymes during respiration, resulting in the controlled release of small amounts of energy used to produce ATP
How does ATP store energy?
Terminal bond is broken by hydrolysis which is catalysed by ATPase
This is reversible reaction and ATP can be re-formed through adding inorganic phosphate during phosphorylation
ATP is a means of transferring free energy from energy rich compounds to cellular reactions that need energy
How is ATP used in active transport?
Changes the shape of carrier protein to allow transport against the concentration gradient
How is ATP used in movement?
Muscle contraction
How is ATP used in nerve transmission?
Sodium-potassium pumps actively pump ions across the axon cell membrane
How is ATP used in secretion?
Packaging and transport of secretory products into vesicles in cells
What are the advantages of ATP?
Hydrolysis of ATP involves a single reaction
Only one enzyme is needed to release energy
Releases energy in small amounts when and where needed
Soluble and easily transported
Common source of energy for many different reactions
What is substrate level phosphorylation (SLP)?
Simplest and oldest method of making ATP, involving short metabolic processes, and that has no oxygen, electron transport chain or protein gradient requirement
What is oxidative phosphorylation?
Phosphorylation that needs protons, electrons, and oxygen, where ATP production occurs during chemiosmosis
What is photophosphorylation?
Occurs during the light dependent stage of photosynthesis, where ATP produced is used to provide energy to fix carbon dioxide into carbohydrate
