TY - JOUR
T1 - Prion dynamics and the quest for the genetic determinant in protein-only inheritance
AU - Sindi, Suzanne S.
AU - Serio, Tricia R.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank members of the Serio lab and Susan Liebman (University of Illinois, Chicago) for helpful discussions and comments on the manuscript and A Derdowski, J Pezza, and R Lesiak for images. We apologize for not always citing primary references due to space constraints. This work was supported by awards to TRS from the ADVANCE Program at Brown University through the National Science Foundation (Grant Number 0548311 ) and by the National Institutes of Health ( GM069802 ).
PY - 2009/12
Y1 - 2009/12
N2 - According to the prion hypothesis, proteins may act in atypical roles as genetic elements of infectivity and inheritance by undergoing self-replicating changes in physical state. While the preponderance of evidence strongly supports this concept particularly in fungi, the detailed mechanisms by which distinct protein forms specify unique phenotypes are emerging concepts. A particularly active area of investigation is the molecular nature of the heritable species, which has been probed through genetic, biochemical, and cell biological experimentation as well as by mathematical modeling. Here, we suggest that these studies are converging to implicate small aggregates composed of prion-state conformers as the transmissible genetic determinants of protein-based phenotypes.
AB - According to the prion hypothesis, proteins may act in atypical roles as genetic elements of infectivity and inheritance by undergoing self-replicating changes in physical state. While the preponderance of evidence strongly supports this concept particularly in fungi, the detailed mechanisms by which distinct protein forms specify unique phenotypes are emerging concepts. A particularly active area of investigation is the molecular nature of the heritable species, which has been probed through genetic, biochemical, and cell biological experimentation as well as by mathematical modeling. Here, we suggest that these studies are converging to implicate small aggregates composed of prion-state conformers as the transmissible genetic determinants of protein-based phenotypes.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.mib.2009.09.003
DO - 10.1016/j.mib.2009.09.003
M3 - Review article
C2 - 19864176
AN - SCOPUS:71549160322
SN - 1369-5274
VL - 12
SP - 623
EP - 630
JO - Current Opinion in Microbiology
JF - Current Opinion in Microbiology
IS - 6
ER -