As a toxin dies a prion comes to life: A tentative natural history of the [Het-s] prion

A variety of signaling pathways, in particular with roles in cell fate and host defense, operate by a prion-like mechanism consisting in the formation of open-ended oligomeric signaling complexes termed signalosomes. This mechanism emerges as a novel paradigm in signal transduction. Among the proteins forming such signaling complexes are the Nod-like receptors (NLR), involved in innate immunity. It now appears that the Het-s] fungal prion derives from such a cell-fate defining signaling system controlled by a fungal NLR. What was once considered as an isolated oddity turns out to be related to a conserved and widespread signaling mechanism. Herein, we recall the relation of the Het-s] prion to the signal transduction pathway controlled by the NWD2 Nod-like receptor, leading to activation of the HET-S pore-forming cell death execution protein. We explicit an evolutionary scenario in which formation of the Het-s] prion is the result of an exaptation process or how a loss-of-function mutation in a pore-forming cell death execution protein (HET-S) has given birth to a functional prion (Het-s]).