Intrinsic disorder: A term to define the specific physicochemical characteristic of protein conformational heterogeneity.

In his commentary in this issue of Molecular Cell, Struhl reasons that the term "intrinsically disordered regions" represents a vague and confusing concept for protein function. However, the term "intrinsically disordered" highlights the important physicochemical characteristic of conformational heterogeneity. Thus, "intrinsically disordered" is the counterpart to the term "folded, " with neither term having specific functional implications.