Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
adenylic acid

adenylic acid

5.5
A molecule in cells like muscle cells that helps store and release energy by changing into ADP and ATP
  • noun
  • /əˈdɛnɪlɪk ˈæsɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ácido adenílico
  • The reversible conversion of adenylic acid to ADP and ATP is essential for cellular energy transfer.

Examples

  • Researchers studied the concentration of adenylic acid in muscle tissue during intense exercise.

  • A deficiency in adenylic acid may impair the body's ability to generate energy efficiently.

  • The body produces adenylic acid during intense exercise.

  • Can you explain the role of adenylic acid in metabolism?

  • The reversible conversion of adenylic acid to ADP and ATP is essential for cellular energy transfer.

  • Researchers studied the concentration of adenylic acid in muscle tissue during intense exercise.

  • A deficiency in adenylic acid may impair the body's ability to generate energy efficiently.

Synonyms

AMP
vsadenylic acid
  • Specialized
11 6.8

A small chemical in muscle cells that helps make ATP for energy

is the longer traditional name rather than the short label
adenosine monophosphate
vsadenylic acid
  • Specialized
6.6

A small molecule in cells that helps store and transfer energy

is a different traditional name for the same nucleotide

Surface Forms

adenylic acid singular
adenylic acids plural

Morphology

adenylic + acid

The modifier 'adenylic' is a specialized biochemical/formative root unfamiliar to average B1 learners and not transparently decomposable into common English words, so its link to nucleotides, ADP/ATP metabolism, or muscle cells is not inferable. Although 'acid' signals a chemical substance, that alone does not allow a learner to derive the specific nucleotide/metabolic meaning, so the expression is opaque.

Etymology

Adenylic acid may get its name from the chemical base adenine, a word from Greek for 'gland' because the base was first found in gland tissue. Adenylic acid is the acid form attached to that base and is a cell building block that helps store and move 'energy' as it changes into ADP and ATP.