Roberts B Tibor, Wickner Reed B
Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0830, USA.
Genes Dev. 2003 Sep 1;17(17):2083-7. doi: 10.1101/gad.1115803. Epub 2003 Aug 15.
Known prions (infectious proteins) are self-propagating amyloids or conformationally altered proteins, but in theory an enzyme necessary for its own activation could also be a prion (or a gene composed of protein). We show that yeast protease B is such a prion, called [beta].[beta] is infectious, reversibly curable, and its de novo generation is induced by overexpression of the pro-protease. Present in normal cells but masked by the functionally redundant protease A, [beta] is advantageous during starvation and necessary for sporulation. We propose that other enzymes whose active, modified, form is necessary for their maturation might also be prions.
已知的朊病毒(感染性蛋白质)是自我增殖的淀粉样蛋白或构象改变的蛋白质,但理论上一种自身激活所必需的酶也可能是朊病毒(或由蛋白质组成的基因)。我们发现酵母蛋白酶B就是这样一种朊病毒,称为β。β具有传染性、可逆转治愈,其从头产生由前体蛋白酶的过表达诱导。β存在于正常细胞中,但被功能冗余的蛋白酶A所掩盖,在饥饿期间具有优势,并且是孢子形成所必需的。我们提出,其他其活性修饰形式对其成熟是必需的酶也可能是朊病毒。