The Power Plant of the Cell

ATP Synthase serves as a miniature power-generator in many living organisms, producing an energy-carrying molecule, adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. The ATP synthase molecular machine has many parts we recognize from human-designed technology, including a rotor, a stator, a camshaft or driveshaft, and other basic components of a rotary engine. This machine is just the final step in a long and complex metabolic pathway involving numerous enzymes and other molecules—all so the cell can produce ATP to power biochemical reactions, and provide energy for other molecular machines in the cell.