conjugation

In biology, temporary union of two single cells (or hyphae in fungi) with at least one of them receiving genetic material from the other: the bacterial equivalent of sexual reproduction. A fragment of the DNA from one bacterium is passed along a thin tube, the pilus, into another bacterium.

conjugation

In organic chemistry, the alternation of double (or triple) and single carbon–carbon bonds in a molecule – for example, in penta-1,3-diene, H2CCHCHCHCH3. Conjugation imparts additional stability as the double bonds are less reactive than isolated double bonds with respect to typical reactions that isolated double bonds undergo readily, for example the addition of H2.

However, the presence of the conjugated system sometimes permits electron shifts within the molecule, which can enable different kinds of reactions not available to molecules with separate double bonds.

conjugation

In grammar, term applied to a verb to denote its different forms, such as ‘I am’, ‘you are’, and ‘he is’. These forms may be obtained by inflection or by the use of particles. Verbs are conjugated to express differences of voice, mood, or tense. They are often grouped into systems following the same inflectional pattern, but all languages contain irregular verbs, such as the verb ‘to be’ in English.