Thought ATP was just an energy molecule? Think again.

As a undergraduate student, every microbiology/biochem professor i ever had relentlessly drilled into our heads: ATP=energy. Written in my notes on the side margin (and going round and round through my head as i crammed for tests ignored until the last minute) was: ATP=energy, ATP=energy, ATP=energy.

It's true, cells all over our body use Adenosine triphosphate for energy by ripping off one of the phosphate groups somehow (kinda had to reach back to remember that fact.) But, after decades of research into ATP receptor molecules, it seems there is a new way to look at our old familiar adenosine.

It turns out, ATP can act as a chemical messenger as well as a source of cellular energy (this has been postulated since the 70s, but only recently widely accepted.) Dr. Geoffrey Burnstock first proved it, as he observed ATP acting outside of cell boundaries, tansmitting impulses from nerve cell to nerve cell.

Dr. Baljit Khakh's recent work uncovering ATP receptors all over the body has led to researchers in this field to believe that ATP signals not only between nerve cells in the brain, but in nerve tissue attached to other organs. It turns out, ATP mediates signaling for bone building, heart contractions, intestinal contraction, bladder contraction, wound healing, and pain sensing.

Now, we know that ATP receptors mediate certain medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis, inflammation, pain, arrhythmia, chrone's disease, and literally countless others.

In 2009,the structure of P2X, the ATP receptor for pain, was successfully modeled. The next step is to develop drugs that treat pain caused by inflammation. The potential is huge here--if every ATP receptor in the P2 class could be modeled, many elusive medical conditions could finally be treated.

Looks like it's time to ditch the old academic mantra.

How does ATP=versatile sound?

[source--Sci Am "The Double Life of ATP"]

The Mediterranean Filled Quickly?

It took me a many years (and many hours with a John McPhee book in my lap) to realize how slow things happen in geologic time. Ranges like the Rocky Mountains jut upward over millions of years, and bodies of water like Lake Superior fill rifts in techtonic plates over thousands of years.

The slower-than-glacial pace of the earth's changes is why I was surprised to hear recently that the Mediteranean sea filled up in a mere two years!

5.33 million years ago, water began to surge at a speed one thousand times greater than the Amazon river flows today over a ridge that once separated the Mediterranean basin from the Atlantic Ocean at the spot we now call the Strait of Gibralter. Water gushed down the gradual slope on the basin side, filling the rocky depression with 10m of water daily.

Geologists found evidence for this massive flood under the Strait of Gibraltar, in earth drilled for the Africa-Europe tunnel project. There lies a u-shaped channel of loose sediment in the seafloor. Daniel Garcia-Castellanos suggests that a u-shape channel suggests flooding instead of a more gradual river flow which would create a v-shaped channel.

Garcia-Castellanos modeled this flow, according to the depth, width, and height of the channel, and estimates the flood could have lasted between 2 months and 2 years. So sudden!

The model for Mediterranean Sea flooding is still in tentative theory stage, so I bet scientists will continue to look for other evidence of rapid erosion--perhaps at the bottom of the sea basin?