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conformation Definition

con·for·ma·tion (kän′fôr mā′s̸hən, -fər-)

noun

  1. Rare a conforming or being conformed; adaptation
    1. a completed or symmetrical formation and arrangement of the parts of a thing
    2. the structure or form of a thing as determined by such arrangements; specif., the shape or outline, as of an animal

Etymology: L conformatio < pp. of conformare

conformation Synonyms

conformation

n.

  1. Agreement

    compliance, conformity, concord, unison, harmony, affinity, congruity, compatibility, synchronism, adaptation, accordance; see also agreement 1, 2.

  2. Shape

    structure, formation, symmetrical arrangement; see form 1, symmetry.

conformation Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • molecule: Dynamic conformation of extracellular matrix molecules in aqueous solution.
  • protein: Nature of problem: Determination of the spatial conformation of a protein from its amino acid sequence.
  • chain: A very high B-factor effectively smears the conformation of that side chain over a large volume which is what you want.

Converse of object

  • stabilize: Located at the back of the 30s subunit body where it stabilizes the conformation of the head with respect to the body.
  • adopt: The small hydrogen side chain of the glycine amino acids permits the backbone torsion angles to adopt unusual conformations.
  • alter: These peptides probably alter the conformation of the phosphodiester chain through a complex interaction with DNA molecule.
  • specify: The notation used here conforms with that being proposed for specifying polynucleotide conformation.

Adjective modifier

  • helical: Such a mutation could for example be in one of the DNA-binding helices introducing a kink in a normally straight and rigid helical conformation.
  • inactive: Hydrolysis of the bound GTP to GDP + P i converts the protein to the inactive conformation.
  • molecular: The two molecules are virtually identical in their molecular conformation.
  • alternate: Residues with alternate conformations ( using shelx occupancies ) were getting marked as zero occupancy atoms.
  • extended: Also, due to their extended conformation, arabinoxylans exhibit a very high viscosity in aqueous solution.
  • closed: The closed conformation is usually stabilized by a bound ligand.

Modifies a noun

polymorphism: The method is called single-stranded conformation polymorphism ( SSCP ).

Noun used with modifier

  • single-strand: DNA abnormalities were screened by the PCR method and single-strand conformation polymorphism ( SSCP ) analysis.
  • backbone: Large changes in backbone conformation during the simulation occur as peaks in the plot.
  • protein: They can alter when ligands bind, or when the protein conformation changes.
  • chain: The p53 gene mutation was detected by fluorescence-based polymerase chain reaction single-strand conformation polymorphism ( PCR-SSCP ) methods.
  • chair: The lowest frequency leads to the chair conformation, and the second lowest to the twist boat.
  • energy: Location of the global minimum structure ( lowest energy folding conformation ), however, is a difficult optimization problem.