title: Prion variants, species barriers, generation and propagation.
abstract: Prion variants faithfully propagate across species barriers, but if the barrier is too high, new variants (mutants) are selected, as shown in a recent BMC Biology report. Protein sequence alteration can prevent accurate structural templating at filament ends producing prion variants.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0830, USA. wickner@helix.nih.gov
authors.forename: Reed B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Wickner
authors.forename: Herman K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Edskes
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shewmaker
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kryndushkin
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nemecek
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000635:transmission*; D011328:Prions / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D011328:Prions