Institut de Biochimie et de Génétique Cellulaire, UMR 5095, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
Department of Chemical and Systems Biology and Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Microbiol Spectr. 2016 Dec;4(6). doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.FUNK-0029-2016.
Prions are infectious protein polymers that have been found to cause fatal diseases in mammals. Prions have also been identified in fungi (yeast and filamentous fungi), where they behave as cytoplasmic non-Mendelian genetic elements. Fungal prions correspond in most cases to fibrillary β-sheet-rich protein aggregates termed amyloids. Fungal prion models and, in particular, yeast prions were instrumental in the description of fundamental aspects of prion structure and propagation. These models established the "protein-only" nature of prions, the physical basis of strain variation, and the role of a variety of chaperones in prion propagation and amyloid aggregate handling. Yeast and fungal prions do not necessarily correspond to harmful entities but can have adaptive roles in these organisms.
朊病毒是传染性的蛋白质聚合物，已被发现可导致哺乳动物致命疾病。朊病毒也在真菌（酵母和丝状真菌）中被鉴定出来，在真菌中，它们表现为细胞质中非孟德尔遗传因子。真菌朊病毒在大多数情况下对应于纤维状β-折叠丰富的蛋白质聚集体，称为淀粉样蛋白。真菌朊病毒模型，特别是酵母朊病毒，对于描述朊病毒结构和传播的基本方面起到了重要作用。这些模型确立了朊病毒的“仅蛋白质”性质、株型变异的物理基础，以及各种伴侣蛋白在朊病毒传播和淀粉样蛋白聚集体处理中的作用。酵母和真菌朊病毒不一定对应有害实体，但在这些生物体中可能具有适应性作用。
