Question

Which of these options can be considered as the currency of energy in cell?
A. DNA
B. RNA
C. ATP
D. Salts

Answer 1

Hint: Cell, the basic structural and functional unit of every living body requires energy to carry out its activities, and as we all know the food that we consume gets digested by the action of several digestive enzymes to fuel this energy requirement.

Complete answer:
In simple words, digestion can be defined as the breakdown of complex food particles into simple chemical molecules that releases energy in the body. All the nutrients that we consume undergo digestion and are finally converted to glycogen. Whenever our body cells need energy, they convert this glycogen to ATP.

ATP is a simple nucleotide made of adenine (a nitrogenous base), ribose sugar and phosphate units. When the hydrogen bonds that bind the phosphate units to ribose are broken down, they release energy. This is done by a process called Hydrolysis.

The energy produced by hydrolysing ATP is used to fuel different activities like metabolism, transportation and functioning of all cell organelles within a cell. Thus ATP is termed as the energy currencies of a cell.

Once ATP gets hydrolysed, it is converted to ADP and releases energy. This ADP again combines with a phosphate unit to make ATP and this reaction is carried out with the help of the enzyme ATP synthase which is found in Mitochondria. Hence we call mitochondria as the ‘Powerhouse of the cell.’

So, option (C) is the correct answer.

Note: The excess of energy in the body is stored in the form of fat, and when the body needs energy, this fat is again converted to glycogen and metabolised to produce ATP. So we can say that all forms of nutrients that we consume are finally converted to ATP- the energy currencies.