title: Interspecies transmission of prions.
abstract: Mammalian prions are infectious agents of proteinaceous nature that cause several incurable neurodegenerative diseases. Interspecies transmission of prions is usually impeded or impossible. Barriers in prion transmission are caused by small interspecies differences in the primary structure of prion proteins. The barriers can also depend on the strain (variant) of a transmitted prion. Interspecies barriers were also shown for yeast prions, which define some heritable phenotypes. Yeast prions reproduce all the main traits of prion transmission barriers observed for mammals. This allowed to show that the barrier in prion transmission can be observed even upon copolymerization of two prionogenic proteins. Available data allow elucidation of the mechanisms that impede prion transmission or make it impossible.
authors.affiliation: Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: E G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Afanasieva
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Kushnirov
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Ter-Avanesyan
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010454:Peptide Termination Factors / Q000235:genetics; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000635:transmission*; D011328:Prions / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D010454:Peptide Termination Factors; D011328:Prions; C068068:SUP35 protein, S cerevisiae; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; C067020:URE2 protein, S cerevisiae