© 2021 Nanoflix/Jakob Hall. Adenine triphosphate (ATP).

ATP The energy transfer molecule

The ATP molecule acts as a sort of rechargeable "chemical battery", storing energy when it is not needed, but able to release it instantly when the organism requires it. It has been calculated that the human body contains only 250 g of ATP at any one time, which contains roughly the equivalent of an AA battery. But it turns over more than its own weight in ATP in a day.
Type:
3D animation & illustration
Date:
© 2021 Nanoflix/Jakob Hall
Credits:
Nanoflix (inhouse project)

All living things, plants and animals, require a continual supply of energy in order to function. The energy is used for all the processes which keep the organism alive. Some of these processes occur continually, such as the metabolism of foods, the synthesis of large, biologically important molecules, e.g. proteins and DNA, and the transport of molecules and ions throughout the organism. Other processes occur only at certain times, such as muscle contraction and other cellular movements. Animals obtain their energy by oxidation of the foods they’ve eaten, plants do so by trapping the sunlight using chlorophyll. However, before the energy can be used, it is first transformed into a form which the organism can handle easily. This special carrier of energy is the molecule ATP.

ATP works by losing the endmost phosphate group when instructed to do so by an enzyme. This reaction releases a lot of energy, which the organism can then use to build proteins, contract muscles, generate heat, etc. The reaction product has one less phosphate group and so is called adenosine diphosphate (ADP).

When the organism is resting and energy is not immediately needed, the reverse reaction takes place and the phosphate groups are reattached to the molecule, one at a time, using energy obtained from food or sunlight.