Tracking prions

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - 19:42 in Biology & Nature

Infectious proteins known as prions have been identified as the cause of "mad cow" disease (BSE). The culprits are "incorrectly folded" proteins that can "infect" healthy proteins. The molecular bases for such prion diseases are not yet fully understood. Why are some proteins infectious while others are not? A team headed by Beat Meier (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) and Raimon Sabat¨¦ (University of Bordeaux, France) has examined two different forms of a prion-forming protein domain by means of NMR spectroscopy. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, the researchers report that the infectious and non-infectious forms differ markedly in their molecular structure.

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