Yeast prions [URE3] and [PSI+] are diseases.
Viruses, plasmids, and prions can spread in nature despite being a burden to their hosts. Because a prion arises de novo in more than one in 10(6) yeast cells and spreads to all offspring in meiosis, its absence in wild strains would imply that it has a net deleterious effect on its host. Among 70 wild Saccharomyces strains, we found the [PIN+] prion in 11 strains, but the [URE3] and [PSI+] prions were uniformly absent. In contrast, the "selfish" 2mu DNA was in 38 wild strains and the selfish RNA replicons L-BC, 20S, and 23S were found in 8, 14, and 1 strains, respectively. The absence of [URE3] and [PSI+] in wild strains indicates that each prion has a net deleterious effect on its host.
Nakayashiki
Toru
T
Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Building 8, Room 225, Bethesda, MD 20892-0830, USA.
Kurtzman
Cletus P
CP
Edskes
Herman K
HK
Wickner
Reed B
RB
D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D010454:Peptide Termination Factors; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics*; D012093:Replicon / Q000235:genetics; D012440:Saccharomyces / Q000235:genetics*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity
D009841:Oligonucleotides; D010454:Peptide Termination Factors; D011328:Prions; C068068:SUP35 protein, S cerevisiae; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; C067020:URE2 protein, S cerevisiae