Conformation–activity relationship

{{short description|How a biomolecule's structure influences biological activity}}

In biochemistry, the conformation–activity relationship is the relationship between the biological activity and the chemical structure or conformational changes of a biomolecule. This terminology emphasizes the importance of dynamic conformational changes for the biological function, rather than the importance of static three-dimensional structure used in the analysis of structure–activity relationships.{{cite journal|last1=Taylor|first1=RE|last2=Chen|first2=Y|last3=Beatty|first3=A|last4=Myles|first4=DC|last5=Zhou|first5=Y|title=Conformation-activity relationships in polyketide natural products: a new perspective on the rational design of epothilone analogues|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society|volume=125|issue=1|pages=26–7|year=2003|pmid=12515494|doi=10.1021/ja028196l}}

The conformational changes usually take place during intermolecular association, such as protein–protein interaction or protein–ligand binding. A binding partner changes the conformation of a biomolecule (e.g. a protein) to enable or disable its biochemical activity.

Methods for analysis of conformation activity relationship vary from in silico{{cite journal|last1=Carotenuto|first1=Alfonso|last2=D'ursi|first2=Anna Maria|last3=Mulinacci|first3=Barbara|last4=Paolini|first4=Ilaria|last5=Lolli|first5=Francesco|last6=Papini|first6=Anna Maria|last7=Novellino|first7=Ettore|last8=Rovero|first8=Paolo|title=Conformation−Activity Relationship of Designed Glycopeptides as Synthetic Probes for the Detection of Autoantibodies, Biomarkers of Multiple Sclerosis|journal=Journal of Medicinal Chemistry|volume=49|pages=5072–9|year=2006|doi=10.1021/jm060117j|issue=17|pmid=16913697}} or using experimental methods such as X-ray crystallography and NMR where the conformation before and after activity can be compared statically or using dynamic methods such as multi-parametric surface plasmon resonance, dual-polarisation interferometry or circular dichroism where the kinetics as well as degree of conformational change can be quantified.