Activation, in chemistry and biology, is the

process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management *Business process, activities that produce a specific se ...

whereby something is prepared or excited for a subsequent

reaction Reaction may refer to a process or to a response to an action, event, or exposure: Physics and chemistry *Chemical reaction *Nuclear reaction *Reaction (physics), as defined by Newton's third law *Chain reaction (disambiguation). Biology and me ...

Chemistry

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, "activation" refers to the reversible transition of a

molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...

into a nearly identical chemical or physical state, with the defining characteristic being that this resultant state exhibits an increased propensity to undergo a specified

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...

. Thus, activation is conceptually the opposite of

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

, in which the resulting state exhibits a ''decreased'' propensity to undergo a certain reaction. The

energy of activation In chemistry and physics, activation energy is the minimum amount of energy that must be provided for compounds to result in a chemical reaction. The activation energy (''E''a) of a reaction is measured in joules per mole (J/mol), kilojoules pe ...

specifies the amount of free energy the

reactant In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

s must possess (in addition to their rest energy) in order to initiate their conversion into corresponding

products Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

—that is, in order to reach the

transition state In chemistry, the transition state of a chemical reaction is a particular configuration along the reaction coordinate. It is defined as the state corresponding to the highest potential energy along this reaction coordinate. It is often marked wi ...

for the reaction. The energy needed for activation can be quite small, and often it is provided by the natural random thermal fluctuations of the molecules themselves (i.e. without any external sources of energy). The branch of chemistry that deals with this topic is called

chemical kinetics Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the branch of physical chemistry that is concerned with understanding the rates of chemical reactions. It is to be contrasted with chemical thermodynamics, which deals with the direction in wh ...

Biology

Biochemistry

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

, activation, specifically called ''

bioactivation Activation, in chemistry and biology, is the process whereby something is prepared or excited for a subsequent reaction. Chemistry In chemistry, "activation" refers to the reversible transition of a molecule into a nearly identical chemical or ...

'', is where enzymes or other biologically active molecules acquire the ability to perform their biological function, such as inactive

proenzyme In biochemistry, a zymogen (), also called a proenzyme (), is an inactive precursor of an enzyme. A zymogen requires a biochemical change (such as a hydrolysis reaction revealing the active site, or changing the configuration to reveal the active ...

s being converted into active

enzymes Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecule ...

that are able to

catalyze Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

their substrates' reactions into

. ''Bioactivation'' may also refer to the process where inactive

prodrug A prodrug is a medication or compound that, after intake, is metabolized (i.e., converted within the body) into a pharmacologically active drug. Instead of administering a drug directly, a corresponding prodrug can be used to improve how the drug ...

s are converted into their active metabolites, or the ''

toxication Toxication, toxification or toxicity exaltation is the conversion of a chemical compound into a more toxic form in living organisms or in substrates such as soil or water. The conversion can be caused by enzymatic metabolism in the organisms, as we ...

'' of protoxins into actual toxins. An enzyme may be reversibly or irreversibly bioactivated. A major mechanism of irreversible bioactivation is where a piece of a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

is cut off by cleavage, producing an enzyme that will then stay active. A major mechanism of reversible bioactivation is

substrate presentation Substrate presentation is a biological process that activates a protein. The protein is sequestered away from its substrate and then activated by release and exposure of the protein to its substrate. A substrate is typically the substance on which ...

where an enzyme translocates near its substrate. Another reversible reaction is where a cofactor binds to an enzyme, which then remains active while the cofactor is bound, and stops being active when the cofactor is removed. In

protein synthesis Protein biosynthesis (or protein synthesis) is a core biological process, occurring inside Cell (biology), cells, homeostasis, balancing the loss of cellular proteins (via Proteolysis, degradation or Protein targeting, export) through the product ...

, amino acids are carried by

transfer RNA Transfer RNA (abbreviated tRNA and formerly referred to as sRNA, for soluble RNA) is an adaptor molecule composed of RNA, typically 76 to 90 nucleotides in length (in eukaryotes), that serves as the physical link between the mRNA and the amino ac ...

(tRNA) molecules and added to a growing polypeptide chain on the

ribosome Ribosomes ( ) are macromolecular machines, found within all cells, that perform biological protein synthesis (mRNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order specified by the codons of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules to ...

. In order to transfer the amino acids to the ribosome, tRNAs must first be covalently bonded to the amino acid through their 3' CCA terminal. This binding is catalyzed by

aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase An aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS or ARS), also called tRNA-ligase, is an enzyme that attaches the appropriate amino acid onto its corresponding tRNA. It does so by catalyzing the transesterification of a specific cognate amino acid or its pre ...

, and requires a molecule of ATP. The amino acid bound to the tRNA is called an

aminoacyl-tRNA Aminoacyl-tRNA (also aa-tRNA or charged tRNA) is tRNA to which its cognate amino acid is chemically bonded (charged). The aa-tRNA, along with particular elongation factors, deliver the amino acid to the ribosome for incorporation into the polypept ...

, and is considered the activated molecule in protein translation. Once activated, the aminoacyl-tRNA may move to the ribosome and add the amino acid to the growing polypeptide chain.

Immunology

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

, activation is the transition of

leucocytes White blood cells, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and derived from mult ...

and other

cell types A cell type is a classification used to identify cells that share morphological or phenotypical features. A multicellular organism may contain cells of a number of widely differing and specialized cell types, such as muscle cells and skin cells, ...

involved in the

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...

. On the other hand, deactivation is the transition in the reverse direction. This balance is tightly regulated, since a too small degree of activation causes susceptibility to infections, while, on the other hand, a too large degree of activation causes

autoimmune diseases An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a functioning body part. At least 80 types of autoimmune diseases have been identified, with some evidence suggesting that there may be more than 100 types. Nearly a ...

. Activation and deactivation results from a variety of factors, including

cytokines Cytokines are a broad and loose category of small proteins (~5–25 kDa) important in cell signaling. Cytokines are peptides and cannot cross the lipid bilayer of cells to enter the cytoplasm. Cytokines have been shown to be involved in autocrin ...

soluble receptor In chemistry, solubility is the ability of a chemical substance, substance, the solute, to form a solution (chemistry), solution with another substance, the solvent. Insolubility is the opposite property, the inability of the solute to form su ...

arachidonic acid Arachidonic acid (AA, sometimes ARA) is a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid 20:4(ω-6), or 20:4(5,8,11,14). It is structurally related to the saturated arachidic acid found in cupuaçu butter. Its name derives from the New Latin word ''arachi ...

metabolites,

steroids A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

receptor antagonists A receptor antagonist is a type of Receptor (biochemistry), receptor ligand (biochemistry), ligand or drug that blocks or dampens a biological response by binding to and blocking a Receptor (biochemistry), receptor rather than activating it like ...

adhesion molecules Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) are a subset of cell surface proteins that are involved in the binding of cells with other cells or with the extracellular matrix (ECM), in a process called cell adhesion. In essence, CAMs help cells stick to each ...

, bacterial products and viral products.

Electrophysiology

Activation refers to the opening of

ion channels Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that allow ions to pass through the channel pore. Their functions include establishing a resting membrane potential, shaping action potentials and other electrical signals by gating the flow of io ...

, i.e. the conformational change that allows ions to pass.

References

{{Authority control Chemical kinetics de:Aktivierung pl:Aktywacja