Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-5-2007
Publication Title
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Department
Geisel School of Medicine
Abstract
The conformational change of a host protein, PrPC, into a disease-associated isoform, PrPSc, appears to play a critical role in the pathogenesis of prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and scrapie. However, the fundamental mechanism by which infectious prions are produced in neurons remains unknown. To investigate the mechanism of prion formation biochemically, we conducted a series of experiments using the protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) technique with a preparation containing only native PrPC and copurified lipid molecules. These experiments showed that successful PMCA propagation of PrPScmolecules in a purified system requires accessory polyanion molecules. In addition, we found that PrPSc molecules could be formed de novo from these defined components in the absence of preexisting prions. Inoculation of samples containing either prion-seeded or spontaneously generated PrPSc molecules into hamsters caused scrapie, which was transmissible on second passage. These results show that prions able to infect wild-type hamsters can be formed from a minimal set of components including native PrPC molecules, copurified lipid molecules, and a synthetic polyanion.
DOI
10.1073/pnas.0702662104
Original Citation
Deleault NR, Harris BT, Rees JR, Supattapone S. Formation of native prions from minimal components in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jun 5;104(23):9741-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0702662104. Epub 2007 May 29. Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 26;105(34):12636. PMID: 17535913; PMCID: PMC1887554.
Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation
Deleault, Nathan R.; Harris, Brent T.; Rees, Judy R.; and Supattapone, Surachai, "Formation of Native Prions from Minimal Components in Vitro" (2007). Dartmouth Scholarship. 1136.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/1136
