An evolutionary basis for scrapie disease: identification of a fish prion mRNA

Trends Genet. 2003 Feb;19(2):72-5. doi: 10.1016/s0168-9525(02)00032-x.

Abstract

Infectious prion proteins cause neurodegenerative disease in mammals owing to the acquisition of an aberrant conformation. We cloned a Fugu rubripes gene that encodes a structurally conserved prion protein, and found rapid rates of molecular divergence among prions from different vertebrate classes, along with molecular stasis within each class. We propose that a directional trend in the evolution of prion sequence motifs associated with pathogenesis and infectivity could account for the origin of scrapie in mammals.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Disulfides
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Fishes*
  • Humans
  • Phylogeny
  • PrPC Proteins / pathogenicity
  • Prions / chemistry*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics*
  • Scrapie / genetics*
  • Takifugu / genetics*

Substances

  • Disulfides
  • PrPC Proteins
  • Prions
  • RNA, Messenger