Angew. Chem. Int. Edn 47, 8215–8219 (2008)

The details of how a non-pathogenic prion protein becomes the agent of Creutzfeld–Jakob disease are obscure, but they may hinge on an 'anchor' made of sugar and lipid by which the prion attaches to a cell membrane. This anchor has been manufactured in a laboratory by Peter Seeberger of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Christian Becker at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology and their colleagues.

The researchers started with a sugar molecule containing five subunits and a lipid chain of 18 carbon atoms. Adding the amino acid cysteine allowed the synthetic chemical to react with a sulphur-containing group called a thioester on the prion protein. An 'anchor' thus attached, the prion could stick to vesicle membranes.