Biophysical comparison of ATP synthesis mechanisms shows a kinetic advantage for the rotary process

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 113; no. 40; pp. 11220 - 11225
• Main Authors: Anandakrishnan, Ramu, Zhang, Zining, Donovan-Maiye, Rory, Zuckerman, Daniel M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 04.10.2016
• Subjects: Adenosine triphosphatase; Adenosine Triphosphate - biosynthesis; ATP; Biological Sciences; Biophysical Phenomena; Comparative analysis; Electrochemistry; Kinetics; Models, Biological; Proton-Motive Force; Rotation; Solutions; Thermodynamics; ATP synthase; evolution; free-energy landscape; kinetic mechanism; nonequilibrium steady state

The ATP synthase (F-ATPase) is a highly complex rotary machine that synthesizes ATP, powered by a proton electrochemical gradient. Why did evolution select such an elaborate mechanism over arguably simpler alternating-access processes that can be reversed to perform ATP synthesis? We studied a syste...