Conformational change

The conformational designated a central concept in molecular biology, are after the proteins are able to change their spatial structure to exercise as part of their function (for example, motor proteins ) or a new feature. The change in shape is described as a modification of the tertiary structure of a protein. Because often only a small part of an enzyme ( " active site " or " active site ") performs a specific function, a small change in the three-dimensional structure is sufficient to effect a large change in the activity of an enzyme.

A conformational change can be achieved in various ways, for example by changing the pH, the salt ions, by a temperature change, by chaperones, prion, in biological systems, however, mainly by the binding of a ligand.

For many proteins, for example enzymes, antibodies, and coagulation proteins, a conformational change for its interactive functionality is required.