| MadSci Network: Molecular Biology |
The hydrolysis of ATP is a very common source of energy for many cellular reactions. That is, the energy released by breaking the high energy phosphodiester bonds in ATP is used to power cellular reactions. For example, gyrase is a common supercoiling enyzme that requires ATP to unwind the DNA helix. However, it is more likely that ATP is used to physically move and supercoil the DNA (just as winding a rubber band requires energy) rather than to break the covalent bonds between base pairs. If you have any further questions, please feel free to post them to MadSci.
Your MAD Scientist,
Raymond Cheong
References:
http://www.portlan dpress.co.uk/bst/668/668i04.pdf
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Molecular Biology.