title: Classifying prion and prion-like phenomena.
abstract: The universe of prion and prion-like phenomena has expanded significantly in the past several years. Here, we overview the challenges in classifying this data informatically, given that terms such as "prion-like", "prion-related" or "prion-forming" do not have a stable meaning in the scientific literature. We examine the spectrum of proteins that have been described in the literature as forming prions, and discuss how "prion" can have a range of meaning, with a strict definition being for demonstration of infection with in vitro-derived recombinant prions. We suggest that although prion/prion-like phenomena can largely be apportioned into a small number of broad groups dependent on the type of transmissibility evidence for them, as new phenomena are discovered in the coming years, a detailed ontological approach might be necessary that allows for subtle definition of different "flavors" of prion / prion-like phenomena.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology; McGill University; Montreal, QC Canada.
authors.forename: Djamel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Harbi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology; McGill University; Montreal, QC Canada.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Harrison
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology; D006801:Humans; D011328:Prions / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011328:Prions
keywords: bioinformatics; classification; database; prion-like; prionoid; quasi-prion