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Cell biology

Designer prions

Nature volume 429, pages 37–38 (2004)Cite this article

Prions are clumps of misshapen proteins that can be passed between cells without the need for genetic intermediaries. The parts of the proteins that account for such infectivity are now being dissected.

Alzheimer's disease, type II diabetes and prion diseases — mad cow disease being the most notorious — are all characterized by the accumulation of misshapen proteins into aggregates in various parts of the body. Of these disorders, however, only prion diseases are infectious. Clumps of prion proteins alone are thought to be the infectious agent in such diseases, implying that infectivity is a special property of these proteins. But, despite extensive studies, researchers have discovered little more than this about the basis for the transmissibility of prions. Now, by swapping portions of one yeast protein with those of another, Osherovich et al.1 have found hints to a possible mechanism, as they discuss in Public Library of Science Biology.

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Figure 1: The modular properties of prion domains.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, 20892-0851, Maryland, USA

    Daniel C. Masison

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  1. Daniel C. Masison
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Masison, D. Designer prions. Nature 429, 37–38 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/429037a

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