words, words

[asimplechord]

For other science geeks out there:

Is "non-phosphorylatable" really a word? As in a serine to alanine mutation renders the amino acid unable to act as a kinase substrate.

Comments

[chiralove.livejournal.com]

I would totally use it as a word. I'm sure any spell-checker would yell at me for it, but it's in my personal dictionary, anyhow ... along with a gazillion other things that spell-checkers don't recognize. :)

[asimplechord.livejournal.com]

It just looks funny to me. The "atable" part of it seems wrong somehow. I've been trying to figure out how to restructure a sentence so another word can be substituted.

[lilyeyes.livejournal.com]

Heck, I'd just like to be able to pronounce it!

[asimplechord.livejournal.com]

:) I just want to know if it's really something that should be used, or if he's making new words up.

[angela-snape.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it works as a word for me. Phosphorylation, yes. Phosphorylatable? Not so much. Though, I'm sure I've had students try to use it... =)

[asimplechord.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to rephrase. I don't know why he doesn't just say it's an alanine substitution. (That's what it is, already, and the audience will know what that implies.)

[angela-snape.livejournal.com]

I would even go as far as to suggest that "cannot be phosphorylated" would work better than "un-phosphorylatable".

[twindowlicker.livejournal.com]

Tchaw.
You don't know the answer to THAT??
8P

[asimplechord.livejournal.com]

No, I don't. I'm mesmerized by your icon, and am unable to think. :)

[hel-bee.livejournal.com]

To me it is a rather ugly word and not that clear...

why use that when you could say that serine is phophorylated whereas alanine is not.

More words but clearer IMO

[asimplechord.livejournal.com]

I agree - it's not an attractive word. Trying to say too many things in a single word when a simple phrase would be better.

[scotrid.livejournal.com]

The suffix "-ate"--if it is a verb maker (with a long a), not a chemical maker--is always dropped when adding "-able", as in "implacable", which means "unable to be placated". But watch out for words like "translate" where "ate" is not a morpheme. So:

if phosphorylate is a verb, use "non-phosphorylable", but
if phosphorylate is a noun, use "non-phosphorylatizable", because you can't stick "-able" on a noun.

Then again, there could be some extenuating chemistry. I'm not an expert there.