Disordered Motifs and Domains in Cell Control - October 11-15, 2014

Disordered Motifs and Domains in Cell Control

Poster Session II

31-POS Board 7 What's Disorder? Proposal for a New Name to Define 'Disordered' Motifs Monica Zoppè . Scientific Visualizatio Unit - IFC, Pisa, Italy.

The definition of protein motifs which are not amenable for crystallization as 'disordered' is based on the historical origin of their identification. Fortunately, in the last several years, much information has been acquired on these motifs, making it unnecessary to keep the original definition. I argue that there are several reasons why such definition is improper, and suggest that the community engage in the search for a new name. For one, the fact that the (part of) protein cannot be forced in to crystal has no biological relevance: in nature proteins do not generally form crystals. Also, biology is quite 'disordered', at all levels: rules exists, that are naturally originating form physics laws, but then high level combinations of different rules can produce extremely variable and elastic new rules, so that very rarely two events develop in the same 'ordered' fashion. Third, the idea of disorder contains a negative meaning (lack of order) which implies a judgement, that I consider unwarranted in a scientific setting. Finally 'disorder' is a very general name, often used as synonym for disease, that makes it very hard to perform literature searches, and often confuses people, especially those not involved in the field. I therefore suggest that a new name is created, with the consensus of the community, based on the important features that have been attributed to these motifs in the years of research dedicated to them. The new name can be based on one of several concepts, can be a good sounding acronym, or can be a totally invented word. Meeting participants can enjoy a creative exercise while discussing the opportunity of changing the disorder word.

- 83 -