Abstract
There is now very persuasive evidence that the transmissible agent for spongiform encephalopathies such as scrapie, consists of a modified form of the normal host protein PrPc, devoid of any nucleic acid. On the other hand, because there are many different strains of scrapie agent with distinct phenotypes which can be propagated in animals homozygous for the PrPc gene, it has been suggested that a nucleic acid must be a component of the agent. Can the two views be reconciled?
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Prusiner, S. B. A. Rev. Microbiol. 43, 345–374 (1989).
Prusiner, S. B. & DeArmond, S. J. Monogr. Pathol. 32, 86–122 (1990).
Weissmann, C. Nature 349, 569–571 (1991).
Hope, J. & Baybutt, H. Semin. Neurosci. 3 (in the press).
Kimberlin, R. H. Semin. Virol. 1, 153–162 (1990).
Aiken, J. M. & Marsh, R. F. Microbiol. Rev. 54, 242–246 (1990).
Bruce, M. E. & Fraser, H. in Scrapie, CJD and Spongiform Encephalopathies: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology (eds Chesebro, B. & Oldstone, M. B. (in the press).
Prusiner, S. B. Science 216, 136–144 (1982).
Gordon, W. S. Vet. Rec. 58, 516 (1946).
Pattison, I. H. J. comp. Path. 75, 159–164 (1965).
Hunter, G. D. in Slow Transmissible Diseases of the Nervous System (eds Prusiner, S. B. & Hadlow, W. J.) 365–385 (Academic, New York, 1979).
Kimberlin, R. H. et al. J. Neurol. Sci. 59, 355–369 (1983).
Brown, P., Rohwer, R. G. & Gajdusek, D. C. J. infect. Dis. 153, 1145–1148 (1986).
Brown, P., Liberski, P. P., Wolff, A. & Gajdusek, D. C. J. infect. Dis. 161, 467–472 (1990).
Stamp, J. T., Brotherston, J. G., Zlotnik, I., Mackay, J. M. & Smith, W. J. comp. Path. 69, 268–280 (1959).
Griffith, J. S. Nature 215, 1043–1044 (1967).
Alper, T., Cramp, W. A., Haig, D. A. & Clarke, M. C. Nature 214, 764–766 (1967).
Pattison, I. H. & Jones, K. M. Vet. Rec. 80, 2–9 (1967).
Field, E. J. Br. med. J. 2, 564–565 (1966).
Gibbons, R. A. & Hunter, G. D. Nature 215, 1041–1043 (1967).
Prusiner, S. B. Science 252, 1515–1522 (1991).
Oesch, B. et al. Cell 40, 735–746 (1985).
Chesebro, B. et al. Nature 315, 331–333 (1985).
Hope, J. et al. EMBO J. 5, 2591–2597 (1986).
Basler, K. et al. Cell 46, 417–428 (1986).
Stahl, N., Borchelt, D. R., Hsiao, K. & Prusiner, S. B. Cell 51, 229–240 (1987).
Taraboulos, A., Serban, D. & Prusiner, S. B. J. Cell Biol. 110, 2117–2132 (1990).
McKinley, M. P. et al. J. Cell Biol. 111, 316a (1990).
Oesch, B., Groth, D. F., Prusiner, S. B. & Weissmann, C. Ciba Fdn Symp. 135, 209–223 (1988).
Prusiner, S. B. et al. Cell 63, 673–686 (1990).
Bolton, D. C. & Bendheim, P. E. in Novel Infectious Agents and the Central Nervous System (eds Bock, G. & Marsh, J.) 164–177 (Wiley, Chichester, 1988).
Bruce, M. E. & Dickinson, A. G. J. gen. Virol. 68, 79–89 (1987).
Dickinson, A. G. & Outram, G. W. Ciba Fdn Symp. 135, 63–83 (1988).
Meyer, N. et al. J. gen. Virol. 72, 37–49 (1991).
Alper, T., Haig, D. A. & Clarke, M. C. Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 22, 278–284 (1966).
Latarjet, R., Muel, B., Haig, D. A., Clarke, M. C. & Alper, T. Nature 227, 1341–1343 (1970).
Hunter, G. D. J. Infect. Dis. 125, 427–440 (1972).
Alper, T., Haig, D. A. & Clarke, M. C. J. gen. Virol. 41, 503–516 (1978).
McKinley, M. P., Masiarz, F. R., Isaacs, S. T., Hearst, J. E. & Prusiner, S. B. Photochemistry and Photobiology 37, 539–545 (1983).
Bellinger-Kawahara, C., Cleaver, J. E., Diener, T. O. & Prusiner, S. B. J. Virol. 61, 159–166 (1987).
Bellinger-Kawahara, C. G., Kempner, E., Groth, D., Gabizon, R. & Prusiner, S. B. Virology 164, 537–541 (1988).
Dees, C., Wade, W. F., German, T. L. & Marsh, R. F. J. gen. Virol. 66, 845–849 (1985).
Rohwer, R. G. Nature 308, 658–662 (1984).
Rohwer, R. G. Nature 320, 381 (1986).
Duguid, J. R., Rohwer, R. G. & Seed, B. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 5738–5742 (1988).
Duguid, J. R., Bohmont, C. W., Liu, N. & Tourtelotte, W. W. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 7260–7264 (1989).
Wietgrefe, S. et al. Science 230, 1177–1179 (1985).
Diedrich, J. et al. Microbial Pathogeol. 2, 435–442 (1987).
Bellinger-Kawahara, C. et al. Virology 160, 271–274 (1987).
Sklaviadis, T., Akowitz, A., Manuelidis, E. E. & Manuelidis, L. Arch. Virol. 112, 215–228 (1990).
Bolton, D. C., McKinley, M. P. & Prusiner, S. B. Science 218, 1309–1311 (1982).
Diringer, H. et al. Nature 306, 476–478 (1983).
Prusiner, S. B. et al. Biochemistry 21, 6942–6950 (1982).
Prusiner, S. B. et al. Cell 35, 349–358 (1983).
Gabizon, R., McKinley, M. P., Groth, D. & Prusiner, S. B. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 6617–6621 (1988).
Brown, P., Liberski, P. P., Wolff, A. & Gajdusek, D. C. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 7240–7244 (1990).
Safar, J. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 6373–6377 (1990).
Aiken, J. M., Williamson, J. L. & Marsh, R. F. J. Virol. 63, 1686–1694 (1989).
Manuelidis, L., Sklaviadis, T. & Manuelidis, E. E. EMBO J. 6, 341–347 (1987).
Multhaup, G. et al. EMBO J 4, 1495–1502 (1985).
Robakis, N. K. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83, 6375–6381 (1986).
Sklaviadis, T., Manuelidis, L. & Manuelidis, E. E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83, 6146–6150 (1986).
Sklaviadis, T. K., Manuelidis, L. & Manuelidis, E. E. J. Virol. 63, 1212–1222 (1989).
Braig, H. R. & Diringer, H. EMBO J. 4, 2309–2312 (1985).
Aiken, J. M., Williamson, J. L., Borchardt, L. M. & Marsh, R. F. J. Virol. 64, 3265–3268 (1990).
Murdoch, G. H., Sklaviadis, T., Manuelidis, E. E. & Manuelidis, L. J. Virol. 64, 1477–1486 (1990).
Turk, E., Teplow, D. B., Hood, L. E. & Prusiner, S. B. Eur. J. Biochem. 176, 21–30 (1988).
Dickinson, A. G., Meikle, V. M. & Fraser, H. J. comp. Pathol. 78, 293–299 (1968).
Dickinson, A. G. & Meikle, V. M. Molec. Gen. Genet. 112, 73–79 (1971).
Dickinson, A. G. & Fraser, H. in Slow Virus Infections of the Nervous System (eds ter Meulen, V. & Katz, M.) 3–14 (Springer, New York, 1977).
Carlson, G. A. et al. Cell 46, 503–511 (1986).
Hunter, N., Hope, J., McConnell, I. & Dickinson, A. G. J. gen. Virol. 68, 2711–2716 (1987).
Carlson, G. A. et al. Molec. Cell Biol. 8, 5528–5540 (1988).
Carlson, G. A. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 7475–7479 (1989).
Race, R. E., Graham, K., Ernst, D., Caughey, B. & Chesebro, B. J. gen. Virol. 71, 493–497 (1990).
Westaway, D. et al. Cell 51, 651–662 (1987).
Hsiao, K. et al. Nature 338, 342–345 (1989).
Goldgaber, D. Nature 351, 106 (1991).
Pattison, I. H. Res. Vet. Sci. 7, 207–212 (1966).
Scott, M. et al. Cell 59, 847–857 (1989).
Gibbs, C. J. Jr et al. Science 161, 388–389 (1968).
Gajdusek, D. C. Science 197, 943–960 (1977).
Masters, C. L., Gajdusek, D. C. & Gibbs, C. J. Jr Brain 104, 535–558 (1981).
Masters, C. L., Gajdusek, D. C. & Gibbs, C. J. Jr Brain 104, 559–588 (1981).
Doh-ura, K., Tateishi, J., Sasaki, H., Kitamoto, T. & Sakaki, Y. Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 163, 974–979 (1989).
Goldgaber, D. et al. Expl. Neurol. 106, 204–206 (1989).
Goldfarb, L. G., Mitrova, E., Brown, P., Toh, B. H. & Gajdusek, D. C. Lancet 336, 514–515 (1990).
Goldfarb, L. G., Korczyn, A. D., Brown, P., Chapman, J. & Gajdusek, D. C. Lancet 336, 637–638 (1990).
Goldfarb, L. G. et al. Lancet 336, 174–175 (1990).
Hsiao, K. K. et al. Neurology 40, 388 (1990).
Goldfarb, L. G. et al. Expl. Neurol. 108, 247–250 (1990).
Tateishi, J. et al. Neurology 40, 1578–1581 (1990).
Speer, M. C., Goldgaber, D., Goldfarb, L. G., Roses, A. D. & Pericak, V. M. A. Genomics 9, 366–368 (1991).
Owen, F. et al. Lancet i, 51–52 (1989).
Owen, F. et al. Molec Brain Res. 7, 273–277 (1990).
Collinge, J. et al. Lancet ii, 15–17 (1989).
Collinge, J. et al. Lancet 336, 7–9 (1990).
McKinley, M. P., DeArmond, S. J., Torchia, M., Mobley, W. C. & Prusiner, S. B., Neurology 39, 1319–1324 (1989).
Hsiao, K. K. et al. Science 250, 1587–1590 (1990).
Weissmann, C. Nature 338, 298–299 (1989).
Dickinson, A. G. & Meikle, V. M. Genet. Res. 13, 213–225 (1969).
Outram, G. W. in Slow Virus Diseases of Animals and Man (ed. Kimberlin, R. H.) 325–357 (Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1976).
Dickinson, A. G. & Fraser, H. in Slow Virus Infections of the Nervous System (eds ter Meulen, V. & Katz, M.) 3–14 (Springer, New York, 1977).
Bruce, M. E., McConnell, I., Fraser, H. & Dickinson, A. G. J. gen. Virol. 72, 595–603 (1991).
Kimberlin, R. H., Walker, C. A. & Fraser, H. J. gen. Virol. 70, 2017–2025 (1989).
Carp, R. I. & Callahan, S. M. J. gen. Virol. 72, 293–298 (1991).
Fraser, H. in Slow Virus Diseases of Animals and Man (ed. Kimberlin, R. H.) 267–305 (Elsevier/North Holland, Amsterdam, 1976).
Fraser, H. & Dickinson, A. G. J. comp. Pathol. 78, 301–311 (1968).
Fraser, H. & Dickinson, A. G. J. comp. Pathol. 83, 29–40 (1973).
Kim, Y. S., Carp, R. I., Callahan, S. M. & Wisniewski, H. M. J. gen. Virol. 68, 695–702 (1987).
Kimberlin, R. H. & Walker, C. A. J. gen. Virol. 39, 487–496 (1978).
Dickinson, A. G. & Fraser, H. in Slow Transmissible Diseases of the Nervous System Vol. 1 (eds Prusiner, S. B. & Hadlow, W. J.) 367–386 (Academic, New York, 1979).
Dickinson, A. G. in Slow Virus Diseases of Animals and Man (ed. Kimberlin, R. H.) 209–241 (Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1976).
Kimberlin, R. H., Cole, S. & Walker, C. A. J. gen. Virol. 68, 1875–1881 (1987).
Milner, J. & Medcalf, E. A. Cell 65, 766–774 (1991).
Cheng, M. Y., Hartl, F.-U. & Horwich, A. L. Nature 348, 455–458 (1990).
Hurst, L. D. Nature 351, 21 (1991).
Caspar, D. L. D. Curr. Biol. 1, 30–32 (1991).
Dees, C., Mcmillan, B. C., Wade, W. F., German, T. L. & Marsh, R. F. J. Virol. 55, 126–132 (1985).
German, T. L. et al. J. gen. Virol. 66, 839–844 (1985).
Volloch, V. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 83, 1208–1212 (1986).
Volloch, V., Schweitzer, B. & Rits, S. J. Cell Biol. 105, 137–143 (1987).
Manuelidis, L., Murdoch, G. & Manuelidis, E. E. Ciba Fdn Symp. 135, 117–134 (1988).
Rackwitz, H. R., Rohde, W. & Saenger, H. L. Nature 291, 297–301 (1981).
Robertson, H. D. & Branch, A. D. in Viroids and Viroid-like Pathogens (ed. Semancik, J.S.) 49–69 (CRC, Boca Raton, Florida, 1987).
Semancik, J. S. & Harper, K. L. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 4429–4433 (1984).
Kuo, M. Y. P., Chao, M. & Taylor, J. J. Virol. 63, 1945–1950 (1989).
Taylor, J. M. Cell 61, 371–373 (1990).
Biebricher, C. K. & Orgel, L. E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 70, 934–938 (1973).
Konarska, M. M. & Sharp, P. A. Cell 57, 423–431 (1989).
Konarska, M. M. & Sharp, P. A. Cell 63, 609–618 (1990).
Glenn, J. S., Taylor, J. M. & White, J. M. J. Virol. 64, 3104–3107 (1990).
Perrault, J. Curr. Top. microbiol. Immun. 93, 151–207 (1981).
Barrett, A. D. & Dimmock, N. J. Curr. Top. microbiol. Immun. 128, 55–84 (1986).
McLain, L., Armstrong, S. J. & Dimmock, N. J. J. gen. Virol. 69, 1415–1419 (1988).
Francki, R. I. A. Rev. Microbiol. 39, 151–174 (1985).
Gadani, F., Mansky, L. M., Medici, R., Miller, W. A. & Hill, J. H. Arch. Virol. 115, 1–22 (1990).
Giachetti, C. & Holland, J. J. Virology, 170, 264–267 (1989).
Dickinson, A. G., Fraser, H., Meikle, V. M. H. & Outram, G. W. Nature 237, 244–245 (1972).
Dickinson, A. G. et al. Nature 253, 556 (1975).
Dickinson, A. G. & Outram, G. W. in Slow Transmissible Diseases of the Nervous System, Vol. 1 (eds Prusiner, S. B. & Hadlow, W. J.) 13–31 (Academic, New York, 1979).
Kimberlin, R. H. & Walker, C. A. Intervirology, 23, 74–81 (1985).
Kimberlin, R. H. & Walker, C. A. in Novel Infectious Agents and the Nervous System (eds Bock, G. & Marsh, J.) 37–62 (1988).
Thiesen, H. J. & Bach, C. Nucleic Acids Res. 18, 3203–3209 (1990).
Tuerk, C. & Gold, L. Science 249, 505–510 (1990).
Scott, J. Curr. Opinions Cell Biol. 1, 1141–1147 (1989).
Wills, P. R. Microbial Pathogen 6, 235–249 (1989).
Collinge, J., Palmer, M. S. & Dryden, A. Lancet 337, 1441–1442 (1991).
Palmer, M. S., Dryden, A. J., Hughes, J. T. & Collinge, J. Nature 352, 340–342 (1991).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weissmann, C. A 'unified theory' of prion propagation. Nature 352, 679–683 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/352679a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/352679a0
This article is cited by
-
MIL-CELL: a tool for multi-scale simulation of yeast replication and prion transmission
European Biophysics Journal (2023)
-
PMCA for ultrasensitive detection of prions and to study disease biology
Cell and Tissue Research (2023)
-
Neurotropic influenza A virus infection causes prion protein misfolding into infectious prions in neuroblastoma cells
Scientific Reports (2021)
-
Prion protein PrP nucleic acid binding and mobilization implicates retroelements as the replicative component of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
Archives of Virology (2020)
-
RNA modulates aggregation of the recombinant mammalian prion protein by direct interaction
Scientific Reports (2019)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.