Excursion into the borderland of biochemistry and philosophy
Krebs, H.A.
Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital 95(1): 45-51
1954
ISSN/ISBN: 0097-1383 PMID: 13172555 Document Number: 3136
A striking feature of the energy production in living matter (i. e. of ATP synthesis) is the relative simplicity of the basic principles. In spite of the great variety of ultimate sources of energy, there are in higher animals only seven types of energy-giving reactions proper where major energy parcels are set free and where ATP is synthesized for ADP and inorganic phosphate. The steps of degradation are unexpectedly small in number. The idea of purposiveness or wholeness as a lead to new experiments is not only acceptable, but essential to scientific thought. Since the same amino acids, sugars and fats are found throughout the world, and since common features are found in different types of living organisms, it would follow that the main energy-producing mechanisms must have been formed at a very early stage in the evolution of matter. In the chemical makeup of living matter, complex phenomena tend to obscure relatively simple principles.
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