title: Biology of the prion gene complex.
abstract: The prion protein gene Prnp encodes PrPSc, the major structural component of prions, infectious pathogens causing a number of disorders including scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Missense mutations in the human Prnp gene, PRNP, cause inherited prion diseases such as familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. In uninfected animals, Prnp encodes a GPI-anchored protein denoted PrPC, and in prion infections, PrPC is converted to PrPSc by templated refolding. Although Prnp is conserved in mammalian species, attempts to verify interactions of putative PrP-binding proteins by genetic means have proven frustrating in that two independent lines of Prnp gene ablated mice (Prnp0/0 mice: ZrchI and Npu) lacking PrPC remain healthy throughout development. This indicates that PrPC serves a function that is not apparent in a laboratory setting or that other molecules have overlapping functions. Shuttling or sequestration of synaptic Cu(II) via binding to N-terminal octapeptide residues and (or) signal transduction involving the fyn kinase are possibilities currently under consideration. A new point of entry into the issue of prion protein function has emerged from identification of a paralog, Prnd, with 25% coding sequence identity to Prnp. Prnd lies downstream of Prnp and encodes the Dpl protein. Like PrPC, Dpl is presented on the cell surface via a GPI anchor and has three alpha-helices: however, it lacks the conformationally plastic and octapeptide repeat domains present in its well-known relative. Interestingly, Dpl is overexpressed in two other lines of Prnp0/0 mice (Ngsk and Rcm0) via intergenic splicing events. These lines of Prnp0/0 mice exhibit ataxia and apoptosis of cerebellar cells, indicating that ectopic synthesis of Dpl protein is toxic to CNS neurons: this inference has now been confirmed by the construction of transgenic mice expressing Dpl under the direct control of the PrP promoter. Remarkably, Dpl-programmed ataxia is rescued by wt Prnp transgenes. The interaction between the Prnp and Prnd genes in mouse cerebellar neurons may have a physical correlate in competition between Dpl and PrPC within a common biochemical pathway that, when misregulated, leads to apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mastrangelo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Westaway
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008958:Models, Molecular; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D012608:Scrapie / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D011328:Prions