A Little Engine That Could: ATP-Powered Electrical Battery and Heater Inside Cells

摘要

Statistical equilibrium thermodynamics has always been the theoretical foundation of molecular biophysics, the subdiscipline within biophysics that studies biological macromolecules (1). In addition, it is well understood, from a conceptual level, that living biological processes operate in non-equilibrium settings (2,3). In fact, one of the most important characteristics of a living organism is its ability to convert chemical energy into mechanical work, and in higher-level organisms, even to generate and deliver information.