Conjugation

The word conjugation has several meanings:

• Grammatical conjugation is the modification of a verb from its basic form.
  • In the Latin language, different verbs have complex conjugation rules. See Latin conjugation.
• In biology, conjugation is transmission of DNA between cells by contact other than fusion. Various forms of conjugation exist in different groups, such as bacteria (see bacterial conjugation) and ciliates. The term is derived from the use of the word for marriage.
• Marriage -- derived from "joining together" or "playing together".
• In mathematics, the term is used in two senses:
  • complex conjugation is the operation which multiplies the imaginary part of a complex number by -1; more generally see conjugate element (field theory).
  • if a is an element of a group, then the map f(x) = axa^-1 is called conjugation by a. See inner automorphism, conjugacy class, conjugate closure, and conjugation of isometries in Euclidean space
  • in differential geometry, Conjugate points
  • an operation on Latin squares
  • in probability theory, conjugate prior
• In quantum physics, two quantities are conjugates when they are linked by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, such as position and momentum, or energy and duration.
• In organic chemistry, conjugation is the interaction between two carbon-carbon double bonds, increasing stability and thereby lowering the overall energy of the molecule. The system formed is called a conjugated system.
• In metabolism, conjugation is a biochemical process to bind a substance to an acid and thereby deactivating its biological activity, making it water-soluble, and facilitating its excretion. Thus steroid hormones can be excreted as sulfo or glucuro conjugates.

To be merged:

Conjugate can be:

• in quantum physics, two quantities are conjugates when they are linked by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, such as position and momentum, or energy and duration
• in chemistry, Conjugate acid or conjugate base
• in linguistics, grammatical conjugation
• in biology, conjugation is sexual reproduction involving interchange of DNA between cells, rather than their fusion. Various forms of conjugation exist in different groups, such as bacteria (see bacterial conjugation) and ciliates. The term is usually applied only to microscopic life-forms.