title: An evolutionary basis for scrapie disease: identification of a fish prion mRNA.
abstract: Infectious prion proteins cause neurodegenerative disease in mammals owing to the acquisition of an aberrant conformation. We cloned a Fugu rubripes gene that encodes a structurally conserved prion protein, and found rapid rates of molecular divergence among prions from different vertebrate classes, along with molecular stasis within each class. We propose that a directional trend in the evolution of prion sequence motifs associated with pathogenesis and infectivity could account for the origin of scrapie in mammals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rivera-Milla
authors.forename: Claudia A O
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Stuermer
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Málaga-Trillo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004220:Disulfides; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D018621:PrPC Proteins / Q000472:pathogenicity; D011328:Prions / Q000737:chemistry*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D012608:Scrapie / Q000235:genetics*; D023741:Takifugu / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004220:Disulfides; D018621:PrPC Proteins; D011328:Prions; D012333:RNA, Messenger