The chemistry of scrapie infection: implications of the 'ice 9' metaphor.
The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies pose an increasing problem for animal, and perhaps human, health. The infectious agent seems to lack a nucleic acid component, posing the question of how it can reproduce. A model of reproduction by nucleated polymerization suggests a number of novel approaches to the problem.
Lansbury
P T
PT
Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
Caughey
B
B
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000502:physiology*; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D012608:Scrapie / Q000635:transmission
D009696:Nucleic Acids; D018620:PrPSc Proteins