by Avinash Patel and Liliana Malinovska
ATP is the energy source for living cells, but in this video abstract, Avinash Patel & Liliana Malinovska describe a new role for this important molecule as a biological hydrotrope that can keep proteins from sticking together.
Read the full paper in the journal Science! "ATP as a biological hydrotrope"
Avinash is a postdoc in the lab of Tony Hyman and Liliana was a postdoc in the lab of Simon Alberti, both at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany.
Related resources
• Science Perspective: "ATP controls the crowd"
• Learn more about ATP in 3 Khan Academy videos
• This simulation shows just how crowded the inside of a cell is!