Conformational change

Factors that may induce such changes include temperature, pH, voltage, light in chromophores, concentration of ions, phosphorylation, or the binding of a ligand.

[3] A specific nonlinear optical technique called second-harmonic generation (SHG) has been recently applied to the study of conformational change in proteins.

[citation needed] Another method applies electro-switchable biosurfaces where proteins are placed on top of short DNA molecules which are then dragged through a buffer solution by application of alternating electrical potentials.

[citation needed] "Nanoantennas" made out of DNA – a novel type of nano-scale optical antenna – can be attached to proteins and produce a signal via fluorescence for their distinct conformational changes.

[5][6] X-ray crystallography can provide information about changes in conformation at the atomic level, but the expense and difficulty of such experiments make computational methods an attractive alternative.