Lipidation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

  1. The process of attaching lipid molecules to a protein or other organic molecule to modify its function and membrane association; a biochemical modification that influences cellular localization and interactions; a post-translational modification involving covalent addition of hydrophobic groups to biological macromolecules
  2. A biochemical mechanism whereby fatty acid or lipid groups are covalently bonded to proteins or other molecules to alter their activity and membrane affinity; a cellular process that facilitates membrane targeting and protein-protein interactions; a form of lipid modification occurring after initial protein synthesis
  3. The enzymatic or chemical addition of lipid moieties to proteins or biomolecules that affects their solubility and cellular distribution; a modification that promotes membrane binding and signaling functions; a vital post-synthesis alteration enhancing hydrophobic character in biomolecules

Etymology: Lipidation is a plain scientific coinage, built in English from "lipid" and the suffix "-ation." The lipid part traces back much further: the Greek "lipos" meant fat or grease, and it sits at the root of a family of words for fatty substances. Writers who needed a term for the fatty substances in living tissue gave the old Greek stem a modern French-derived form, "lipide," which English took up as "lipid." The suffix tells a longer story. The "-ation" ending comes from Latin "-ātiō," which formed nouns of action from verbs, and it passed into English through Old French. Adding it to "lipid" yields a name for the act of attaching fatty molecules to something, so the word describes a process rather than a substance. In biochemistry, the term names a specific change: a protein or other molecule gets a fatty chain covalently attached, which alters where it sits in a cell and what it binds to. The word therefore carries the whole idea in its parts, a fat-related stem plus a suffix of action.

Synonyms: lipid modification, lipid attachment, lipid conjugation