title: The chemistry of scrapie infection: implications of the 'ice 9' metaphor.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Lansbury
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Caughey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000502:physiology*; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D012608:Scrapie / Q000635:transmission
chemical_list: D009696:Nucleic Acids; D018620:PrPSc Proteins