Skip to main content
to phosphorylate

to phosphorylate

1 8.2
To add a phosphate group to a molecule inside cells to change how it works
  • verb
  • /fɑːsˈfɔːrɪˌleɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fosforilar
  • Serine can be phosphorylated or glycosylated and thereby can modulate the functional activity of the encoded protein.
  • phosphorylated protein

Fat doesn't need to be phosphorylated so it actually doesn't have any thermic effect of food at that point.

Examples

  • Fat doesn't need to be phosphorylated so it actually doesn't have any thermic effect of food at that point.

  • So what happens is this bicarbonate is phosphorylated by ATP.

  • And that's going to go to, that's going to phosphorylate the bicarbonate.

  • The difference between A68 and tau is the degree to which A68 is phosphorylated.

    Academic text (1992)
  • One approach focuses on identifying the kinase(s) activated by ACE that phosphorylate p47-PHOX.

    Academic text (2018)
  • In Alzheimer's disease, abnormally phosphorylated insoluble forms of tau are involved in the formation of PHF.

    Academic text (1992)
  • A protein kinase that phosphorylates PHF proteins in vitro has been identified in brain tissue preparations from patients with Alzheimer's disease.

    Academic text (1992)
  • In biochemical reactions, enzymes catalyze the process to phosphorylate specific substrates, leading to cellular signaling.

  • The process of cell activation can involve several steps, one of which is to phosphorylate the protein using ATP.

  • During cellular respiration, glucose can be converted to glucose-6-phosphate when it is phosphorylated by hexokinase.

Surface Forms

phosphorylate infinitive
phosphorylated past participle
phosphorylating present participle
phosphorylates third person singular

Morphology

phosphorylate = phosphoryl (semi-transparent) = phosphoryl + phosphate + phosphoryl + ate

The formation is regular (phosphoryl + -ate) but the meaning requires specialized chemical/biological knowledge about phosphate/phosphoryl groups, so it is not fully transparent to general learners.

Etymology

Phosphorylate begins with phosphate, the small chemical group it adds, and ends with -ate, which here means 'to add'. The part phosphate comes from Greek phos meaning 'light', because some minerals with it can glow, so to phosphorylate is to 'add a phosphate group' and often change how a molecule works.