What is phosphorylation?

[hitmankratos]

Hi,

 

I'm working on a science fair project on Alzheimer's and it's basically all about the protein Tau being hyperphosphorylated...

I know in this particular case, that phosphorylation is used to activate this protein (tau), and that kinases and phosphatases that add and take awat those phosphates.

 

Now my question : How come phosphorylation activates proteins? Does phosphorylation have another purpose?

What else is important to know about phosphorylation?

[JGK]

For this type of question, Wikipedia can be your friendhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorylation