Prion proteins play powerful role in survival, evolution of wild yeast strains
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 13:00
in Biology & Nature
Prions, the much-maligned proteins most commonly known for causing "mad cow" disease, are commonly used in yeast to produce beneficial traits in the wild. Moreover, such traits can be passed on to subsequent generations and eventually become "hard-wired" into the genome, contributing to evolutionary change.