Darren, > Also, while we recognize > that there are different qualities that can be ascribed to a basically > identical biochemical entity in different structural conformations or > states of ligand binding, we are not attempting (at least in the > beginning) to describe these structural conformations or bound vs > unbound forms.
Indeed, while conformation is an important quality of molecular structure, it does not fundamentally change the nature of the molecule. i.e. a protein in a bound or unbound state should still be considered the same protein. Cheers, -=Michel=-