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phosphorylate

American  
[fos-fer-uh-leyt, fos-fawr-uh-, -for-] / ˈfɒs fər əˌleɪt, fɒsˈfɔr ə-, -ˈfɒr- /

verb (used with object)

Chemistry.
phosphorylated, phosphorylating
  1. to introduce the phosphoryl group into (an organic compound).


Other Word Forms

  • phosphorylation noun

Etymology

Origin of phosphorylate

First recorded in 1930–35; phosphor- + -yl + -ate 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Interestingly, even in mice that don't produce CDKL5, there was still some EB2 phosphorylation taking place, which suggested that another similar enzyme must also be able to phosphorylate it.

From Science Daily • Feb. 8, 2024

Various kinases are named for the substrate they phosphorylate.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

On the intracellular side, the ends of peptide chains on each protein phosphorylate the other member of the pair, providing active docking sites that initiate cellular responses.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

The authors discovered that mitochondrial dysfunction caused HRI to phosphorylate eIF2α even when haem was plentiful, which was surprising, given that HRI activation had been thought to depend on haem depletion11,12.

From Nature • Mar. 3, 2020

In the final step, these protein kinases phosphorylate proteins in the cytoplasm.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013