Question

write a short note on prions

Answer 1

A prion is an infectious agent composed entirely of protein material, called PrP (short for prion protein), that can fold in multiple, structurally distinct ways, at least one of which is transmissible to other prion proteins, leading to disease that is similar to viral infection. They are suspected to be the cause of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) among other diseases.

Prions were initially identified as the causative agent in animal TSEs such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)—known popularly as "mad cow disease"—and scrapie in sheep. Human prion diseases include Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) and its variant (vCJD), Gerstmann–Sträussler–Scheinker syndrome, fatal familial insomnia, and kuru.[1] A 2015 study concluded that multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare human neurodegenerative disease, is caused by a misfolded version of a protein called alpha-synuclein, and is therefore also classifiable as a prion disease.[2] Several yeast proteins have been identified as having prionogenic properties as well.[3][4]

Answer 2

in modern medicine, certain infectious neurological disease were found to be transmitted by abnormally folded proteins. These proteins are called prions.