Cell biology. Sowing the protein seeds of prion propagation.
Ever since Prusiner first proposed his radical "protein-only" hypothesis to explain how certain infectious proteins (prions) are transmitted from one mammal to another in the absence of DNA or RNA, scientists have been trying to prove him right (or wrong). The study of mammalian prions, such as those causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, scrapie in sheep and mad cow disease in cattle, has been slow to yield answers. However, as Tuite discusses in his Perspective, the Sup35p and Ure2p proteins of yeast that exist in both normal and infectious forms are providing evidence that the "protein-only" hypothesis may be right (Sparrer et al.).
Department of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
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Tuite
D001704:Biopolymers; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D008081:Liposomes; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009154:Mutation; D010454:Peptide Termination Factors; D010641:Phenotype; D011328:Prions / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
D001704:Biopolymers; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008081:Liposomes; D010454:Peptide Termination Factors; D011328:Prions; C068068:SUP35 protein, S cerevisiae; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; C067020:URE2 protein, S cerevisiae