News tagged with prion protein

Scientists show 'lifeless' prions capable of evolutionary change and adaptation

Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have determined for the first time that prions, bits of infectious protein devoid of DNA or RNA that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease, are capable of Darwinian evolution.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Dec 31, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (31) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

New study shows prions able to jump between species more easily than thought

(PhysOrg.com) -- A group of French researchers has found that prions are more easily able to jump between species than has been previously thought. In their paper published in Science, they show that prions ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jan 27, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 2 | with audio podcast report

Study points to disruption of copper regulation as key to prion diseases

(PhysOrg.com) -- An investigation of a rare, inherited form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease suggests that disrupted regulation of copper ions in the brain may be a key factor in this and other prion diseases.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 17, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 1

Unravelling the mystery of misfolding prions

(Phys.org) -- Researchers at the University of Alberta's physics department and the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) are the first to map out the folding pathways of prions, malformed ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 30, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research identifies drug target for prion diseases, 'mad cow'

Scientists at the University of Kentucky have discovered that plasminogen, a protein used by the body to break up blood clots, speeds up the progress of prion diseases such as mad cow disease.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jan 10, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study shows infectious prions can arise spontaneously in normal brain tissue

In a startling new study that involved research on both sides of the Atlantic, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute in Florida and the University College London (UCL) Institute of Neurology in England have shown ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jul 26, 2010 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

A penny for your prions: Researchers study link between copper, mad cow disease

(PhysOrg.com) -- North Carolina State University researchers have discovered a link between copper and the normal functioning of prion proteins, which are associated with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jun 25, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

New sporadic prion protein disease identified

A new sporadic prion protein disease has been discovered. Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr), as it has been named, is the second type of complete sporadic disease to be identified since Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Aug 13, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Study Offers Evidence That Spongiform Brain Diseases Are Caused By Aberrant Protein

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have determined how a normal protein can be converted into a prion, an infectious agent that causes fatal brain diseases in humans and mammals.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jan 28, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Antibody key to treating variant CJD, scientists find

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have determined the atomic structure of the 'binding' between a brain protein and an antibody that could be key to treating patients with diseases such as variant CJD.

Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

created Mar 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Cellular stress can induce yeast to promote prion formation

It's a chicken and egg question. Where do the infectious protein particles called prions come from? Essentially clumps of misfolded proteins, prions cause neurodegenerative disorders, such as mad cow/Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Prion discovery gives clue to control of mass gene expression

The discovery in common brewer's yeast of a new, infectious, misfolded protein -- or prion -- by University of Illinois at Chicago molecular biologists raises new questions about the roles played by these curious molecules, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 13, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Prions serve as important source of variation in nature

Special proteins known as prions, which are perhaps best known as the agents of mad cow and other neurodegenerative diseases, can also serve as an important source of beneficial variation in nature, confirms a new study in ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 02, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Size of protein aggregates, not abundance, drives spread of prion-based disease

Mad Cow disease and its human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which are incurable and fatal, have been on a welcome hiatus from the news for years, but because mammals remain as vulnerable as ever to infectious diseases ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Oct 28, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

What drove the cow mad? Lessons from a tiny fish

For over twenty years, scientists have known that a normal protein in the brain, PrP, or prion protein, can turn harmful and cause deadly illnesses like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 10, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

PRNP

More reference expression data

PRNP (PRioN Protein (Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, fatal familial insomnia)) is a gene that codes for a protein called the prion protein (PrP), which is expressed in the brain and several other tissues.

The human PRNP gene is located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 20 between the end (terminus) of the arm and position 12, from base pair 4,615,068 to base pair 4,630,233.

PRNP has also recently been designated CD230 (cluster of differentiation 230).

For more information about PRNP, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.