Month: September 2022

NO GENOME. “Scientists have not found any nucleic acid associated with a prion, however, despite intensive efforts in many laboratories. Furthermore, prions appear to remain infectious even after being exposed to treatments that destroy nucleic acids.” https://lnkd.in/dkdVKcb View in LinkedIn

HERESY. “This evidence has led to the now widely accepted prion theory, which states that the cellular protein PrP is the sole causative agent of prion diseases; there is no nucleic acid involved.” https://lnkd.in/dkdVKcb View in LinkedIn

TRANSMISSION. “Prions can be transmitted, possibly by eating and certainly by inoculation either directly into the brain or into skin and muscle tissue. Exponential amplification of the prion (converting pN into pD in the body) would then result in disease.” https://lnkd.in/dkdVKcb View in LinkedIn

SPONTANEOUS EMERGENCE. “Occasional, sporadic cases of prion diseases arise in middle or old age, presumably because there is a very small but real chance that pN can spontaneously flip to pD; the cumulative likelihood of such a flip grows over the years.” https://lnkd.in/dkdVKcb View in LinkedIn

MUTATIONS. “Inherited cases of CJD and GSS may result from mutations in the PrP gene, which gives rise to changes in the amino acid sequence of the PrP protein. This change would increase the probability of pN transforming into pD, so that the disease would almost certainly occur.” https://lnkd.in/dkdVKcb View in LinkedIn

INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR. “Viruses and jumping genes, which are virtually just a strand of DNA or RNA, also show complex behavior. Since DNA and RNA are involved in the process of reproduction and creation of new molecules, there is an intuitive understanding how viruses and jumping genes might engage in intelligent behavior. But, can a protein alone engage in intelligent behavior? Is a prion an intelligent protein?” https://lnkd.in/dKV3Xez View in LinkedIn

TEMPLATING. “A prion is a protein that can take different shapes and in one particular structure recruits others to change into this form as well. These proteins then clump together into a large mass that disrupts and kills neurons. It is a version of a protein that can perpetuate growth like a crystal.” https://lnkd.in/dKV3Xez View in LinkedIn

CONFOUNDING. “The prion protein, alone, becomes a pathogen that creates infections. Although it is not absolutely certain that the protein has no help from a virus, current evidence appears to show that it acts alone without any genetic material.” https://lnkd.in/dKV3Xez View in LinkedIn

FAMILY OF DISEASES. “Prion-like behavior is a more general phenomenon and important proteins that are involved in many of the major brain diseases have prion like behavior—Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and ALS.” https://lnkd.in/dKV3Xez View in LinkedIn

EVIDENCE. “There is now increasing evidence that the clumping of proteins with prion like behavior is a more general phenomenon and important proteins that are involved in many of the major brain diseases have prion like behavior—Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and ALS.” https://lnkd.in/dKV3Xez View in LinkedIn