UK (Commonwealth Union) – Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a key supplier of energy for living cells. ATP plays a significant role in a variety of metabolic pathways and formations of almost every metabolite, hence the knowledge of specific activities of ATP plays a key role in industrial biotechnology.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) have found that an early step in metabolic evolution paved the way for ATP emergence as the universal energy transporter, making preparations for the origin of life. The study revealed a simple 2 carbon compound could have possibly been a significant factor in the evolution of metabolism prior to the arrival of cells.
Cellular respiration leading to energy capture as a phosphate is joined to ADP (adenosine diphosphate) to produce ATP, phosphate cleavage brings about energy releases needed to fuel many types of cellular functions.
The combination of a variety of findings with molecular-dynamic modeling prompted the researchers to put forward a mechanistic explanation for the specificity of the ADP, AcP (acetyl phosphate) and iron reaction, suggesting that the minute diameter and increased charge density of the iron ion, added with the conformation of the intermediate synthesized when all 3 combine, providing the correct geometry permitting AcP’s phosphate to change partners, producing ATP.
“Our results suggest that AcP is the most plausible precursor to ATP as a biological phosphorylator, and that the emergence of ATP as the universal energy currency of the cell was not the result of a ‘frozen accident,’ but arose from the unique interactions of ADP and AcP,” said Professor Nick Lane a senior author of UCLs Centre for Life’s Origins & Evolution and the Genetics, Evolution & Environment department. He further stated that over time, with the emergence of suitable catalysts, ATP can in due course displace AcP as a universal phosphate donor, and further the polymerization of amino acids and nucleotides to produce RNA, DNA and proteins.
