Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)

Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) is a multifunctional nucleotide that plays an important role in cell biology as a coenzyme, that is, the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer. ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism. It is an energy source produced during photosynthesis and cellular respiration and consumed by many enzymes and a multitude of cellular processes, including biosynthetic reactions, motility, and cell division. ATP is made from adenosine diphosphate (ADP) or adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and its use in metabolism converts it back into these precursors. ATP is therefore continuously recycled in organisms, with the human body turning over its own weight in ATP each day.ATP was discovered in 1929 by Karl Lohmann, but its correct structure was not determined until some years later. It was proposed to be the main energy-transfer molecule in the cell by Fritz Albert Lipmann in 1941.