Prion????

[Gert Jan Gast]

Hi all,

As an ecologist I'm very much puzzled by this prion thing. 
To be honest, I had never even heard the word before. So if I'm  
being naive here, please forgive me. Could anyone explain or give 
references to what a prion is and how it is supposed to work? I 
understand that a protein can have harmful effects. However, as 
it does not have DNA or RNA how does (or is) it multiply(ied) so 
that it can spread through a population? Does a cell make copies 
simply because the prion is there? Or forces the prion the cell 
to do that, like a virus does? If so, how could a simple protein 
do that? Also: as the original prion is the information for the 
copy, it would have to be read first. That would give the cell 
opportunities to destroy it, wouldn't it? Or is a prion some kind 
of weird "side product" from something else? Like nonsense DNA, 
mutations or transcription mistakes? 

Thanks and good eastern weekend, GJ.


-- 


Gert Jan Gast <gjgast at NIOZ.NL>
Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Department of Marine Ecology
P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, The Netherlands.
Phone: 31 (0)222 369573. Fax: 31 (0)222 319674.