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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 279, Issue 53, 55372-55375, December 31, 2004

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The ATP Paradox Is the Expression of an Economizing Fuel Mechanism^*

J. Carlos Aledo and Alicia Esteban del Valle

From the Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain

The strong negative correlation between glycolytic flux and intracellular ATP concentration observed in yeast has long been an intriguing and counterintuitive phenomenon, which has been referred to as the ATP paradox. Herein, using principles of irreversible thermodynamics it was shown that if the ATP-consuming pathways are more sensitive to extracellular glucose than glycolysis, then upon glucose addition glycolysis performance can switch from an efficient working regime to a dissipative regime, and vice versa, depending on glucose availability. The efficient regime represents a good compromise between high output power and low dissipation, whereas the dissipative working regime offers a higher output power although at a high glucose cost. The physiological and evolutionary implications of this switch strategy are discussed.

Received for publication, September 13, 2004 , and in revised form, October 19, 2004.

^* The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental equations.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: 34-952-137129; E-mail: caledo{at}uma.es.

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