Chemists convert electricity into the fuel that powers the body ’s cells

Power plants incessantly burn fossil fuels to convert the solar energy stored by plants eons ago into electricity. But going the other direction—converting electricity into a biologically useful form of energy—has been much more difficult. Now, however, a simple chemical scheme can convert electrical energy into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the chemical fuel used by all cells, a research team reports. With the process, electricity from renewable sources might someday power biofactories to make everything from protein supplements to medicines. “This is really exciting,” says Michael Jewett, a bioengineer at Stanford University. “This new approach harnesses biological processes to carry out functions that nature never needed, but could benefit society.” Within the cells of plants, organelles called chloroplasts use sunlight to generate ATP as part of the process of photosynthesis. The ATP then powers myriad reactions essential for metabolism. When an ATP molecule is used, it is stripped of one of its phosphate groups, creating adenosine diphosphate, or ADP. The ADP is then recycled and fed more captured energy to regenerate ATP. Plant-eating animals burn glucose to power this same cycle, which occurs some 10 million times per second in every cell. Industrial biotechnologists tap into this cycle by harnessing specially bred or modified microbes to manufacture everything from biofuels to pharmaceuticals. A process typically starts by growing plants ...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news