The energy released from food during respiration is used to create molecules of a chemical called adenosine triphosphate or ATP. It is a nucleotide identical to the molecule found in RNA.
ATP is a temporary store of energy, which can be released whenever required for a wide variety of jobs, such as contraction of muscle or synthesis of complex chemicals, such as synthesis of amino acids, protein synthesis, and active transport systems
It is uniquely situated in the middle of the standard of the energy of hydrolysis for phosphate compounds.
Usually only the outer phosphate is removed from ATP to yield energy; when ATP is hydrolyzed, a molecule of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and one of inorganic phosphate ion are formed and energy is liberated.
ATP is able to power cellular processes by transferring a phosphate group to another molecule (a process called phosphorylation).
This ADP is used to make more ATP and the process repeats itself over and over again.
What is adenosine triphosphate?
