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Prions

A prion is an infectious agent consisting of a protein that is mis-folded. It can cause several central nervous system diseases. Included are Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Fatal Familial Insomnia and Kuru in humans plus Scrapie in sheep.

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What is Secondary structure of prion proteins in prion disease like Creutz feldt-Jakob disease (CJD)?

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Asked by Wiki User

Secondary structure of prion proteins in prion disease like Creutz feldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is

What kingdom do prion's belong?

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Asked by Wiki User

None. They are proteins.

What are importance of prions?

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Asked by Wiki User

PrionsA prion is an infectious protein that is misfolded. These proteins can aggregate in the brain and other neural tissue, forming amyloids. Diseases associated with prions include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), scrapie, kuru, chronic wasting disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Prions are still poorly understood by researchers, and prion diseases (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) remain untreatable.

What are prions made of?

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Asked by Wiki User

dead bodies.

They are proteins.

Who discovered prions?

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Asked by Wiki User

According to Wikipedia, Stanley Ben Prusine, was the first scientist to coin the term prion in 1982. It is a combination of the words Protein and Infection.

How do viroids and prions compare with viruses?

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Asked by Wiki User

they both doesn't have nucleus Type your answer here...

What foods have prions in them?

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Is SARS a prion or viroid?

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Can you deactivate prions?

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Asked by Wiki User

You can by the typical means after trying extremely hard. Prions are unusually stable proteins, which means the normal denaturation methods (high temperature, proteases, and formalin & radiation treatments) can only reduce infectivity but not hydrolyze the structure completely. Raised temperatures will destroy normal proteins, but prions would require incredibly high temperatures and pressures that make it an ineffective treatment. The tertiary structure has been shown to be destroyed after treatment with bleach or caustic soda, or acidic substances, however.

Other modi operandi are being researched to treat prion infections and amyloids. Prions are still poorly understood and the diseases they cause are still uncurable.

Evidence that prions were responsible for mad cow disease?

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Asked by Wiki User

At one time, cattle were fed the unwanted parts of ground up sheep. Some of those cows became infected with mad cow disease. Mad cow disease spread to humans. Cattle were also fed parts of ground up cow parts, cows eating ground up cattle were infected with that disease.

The breakthrough came in New Guinea. There, women and children would eat the brains of dead people. Men would not. Women and children would catch a disease similar to mad cow disease. Men would not. That made it obvious that the disease came from something common to women and children and not to men. Since they behaved the same as nearby groups except for eating the brains of dead people, that had to be the difference. The only difference in the brains of the dead people with mad cow disease and those without mad cow disease was the prions.

This was then tested in England where mad cow disease was common. The only difference between cows with mad cow disease and those without mad cow disease were the same prions. The people with mad cow disease had the same prions in their brains.

Are prions prokaryotic?

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Asked by Wiki User

No. Prions are neither prokaryotic nor eukaryotic. They are similar to viruses - nonliving. However, they are more "nonliving" than viruses in the respect that they are just protein sans nucleic acid or anything cell-like.

How do people get sporadic prion disease?

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Asked by GaleEncyofNeuroDis

Patients with sporadic prion diseases may have a susceptibility polymorphism in their PRNP gene, and may have spontaneous mutations forming prion proteins.

Is a prion considered an organism?

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Asked by Wiki User

No prions are composed of protein - they are nonliving.

What does the prion do?

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Is a prion an infectious agent?

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