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News and Views
Nature 435, 747-749 (9 June 2005) | doi:10.1038/435747a; Published online 8 June 2005
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Structural biology: Prying into prions
Christopher M. Dobson1
Abstract
Various aberrant protein forms are the subject of intense research. It is not easy to probe their structures, but studies that have done so provide telling information about their biological properties.
One of the most intriguing issues in biology is the occasional conversion of proteins from their intricately folded functional forms into thread-like molecular aggregates. These transformations into an alternative form of protein structure1 are of much more than academic interest — such aggregates are linked to some of the most feared diseases of the modern era2, and to the previously heretical idea that transmission of genetic information can occur without the involvement of nucleic acids3.
- Christopher M. Dobson is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK.
Email: cmd44@cam.ac.uk
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