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What is ATP synthase and why is it essential for cellular metabolism?
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[QUOTE="BillTre, post: 6010352, member: 581757"] [URL='https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/obituaries/paul-d-boyer-99-dies-nobel-chemistry-winner-studied-what-makes-the-body-go.html?emc=edit_th_180608&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=388106970608']Paul D. Boyer a 1997 Nobel Prize winner, recently died[/URL]. He was 99 years old. Among other things, he did important work on one of the most interesting and important of cellular enzymes, ATP synthase. [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATP_synthase']ATP synthase[/URL] is important since it is central to the cell's production of ATP which powers a large proportion of cellular metabolism. The ATP synthase is: [LIST] [*]conserved among all cellular life (indicating it was inherited from the Last Universal Common Ancestor and arose very early in life) [*]large and has an extremely complex structure [*]and runs on differences in proton (H[SUP]+[/SUP]) concentrations across the cellular (or [URL="https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/when-did-mitochondria-evolve/"]mitochondria[/URL]l) membrane. [/LIST] Its passes a proton from one side of the membrane into a rotating protein ring embedded in the cell membrane which causes the ring to rotate with respect to an outer non-rotating protein ring before the proton is released on the other side of the membrane. It can rotate at hundreds of revolutions per second. Its structure/function has lead people to compare it to a turbine. The ring rotation in turn rotates an non-symmetrical axle the in turn bonks a ring of non-rotating ATPase enzymes, changing their conformation as it goes around and catalyzing ADP plus P[SUB]i[/SUB] to form ATP. It can also be driven in reverse (pumping protons) by high ATP concentrations. This stuff was not yet taught when I took biochemistry. I only found out about ATP synthase structure and function recently. Its complexity and early evolutionary origin are remarkable. [URL='http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/04/11/science.aas9699.full']Here is a link to a recent high resolution analysis of ATP synthase[/URL] (probably pay-walled). [/QUOTE]
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What is ATP synthase and why is it essential for cellular metabolism?
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