Atpase

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An enzyme that catalyzes the decomposition of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), releasing energy used to drive various biological processes including muscle contraction and cell transport
2. A protein functioning to hydrolyze ATP molecules to adenosine diphosphate and phosphate, providing energy necessary for cellular activities such as active transport and metabolic reactions
3. An enzymatic catalyst responsible for ATP breakdown, supplying energy that powers cellular functions like ion pumping across membranes and mechanical work within cells

Etymology: ATPase is a compound coined in the 20th century from its parts rather than an ancient word. "ATP" is the abbreviation for adenosine triphosphate, the molecule that cells use as their short-term energy currency, and it was named in the 1920s as biochemists worked out its structure. The suffix "-ase" was introduced in 1898 by the French chemist Anselme Payen, who formed it from "diastase," the name of an enzyme he had isolated from malt, and it has since been attached to hundreds of enzyme names to mean "enzyme that acts on" the substance named before it. Put together, "ATPase" means "an enzyme that acts on ATP," and the name describes exactly what these proteins do: they split ATP into adenosine diphosphate and inorganic phosphate, releasing the energy stored in the bond. Because this single reaction powers the muscle protein myosin and the pumps that move ions across membranes, many different ATPases share the same name despite being structurally unrelated.

Synonyms: adenosine triphosphatase, enzyme, hydrolase