Prions Mutate And Adapt To Host Environment

[Moontanman]

Prions Mutate and Adapt to Host Environment

 

This light photomicrograph of brain tissue reveals the presence of typical amyloid plaques found in a case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). (Credit: Sherif Zaki; MD; PhD; Wun-Ju Shieh; MD; PhD; MPH)

 

 

ScienceDaily (Dec. 18, 2010) — Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown that prions, bits of infectious protein that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease," have the ability to adapt to survive in a new host environment.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101217083232.htm