The physical aspects of energy transduction in biological systems

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Abstract
The primary energy sources for all the organisms living on the Earth are either sunlight or the energy liberated during chemical transformations (mainly, oxidation) of certain substances – food. Within the cell this energy is transformed, accumulated, and then utilized to ensure a multitude of processes (synthesis of new low- and high-molecular compounds, muscle contraction, luminescence, transfer of ions counter to their concentration gradients, etc.).The role of universal ‘energy keeper’, of the, as it were, ‘energy small change’ in biology is played by the molecules of adenosine tri- phosphate (ATP) whose hydrolytic dissociation in water solutions with the formation of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate (P1) is accompanied by a rather strong decrease of system energy.†