Recent advances of research on the [PSI+] prion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae |
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Authors: | Takao Ishikawa |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, 1 Miecznikowa St., PL-02-096 Warsaw, Poland |
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Abstract: | Prion diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease have been extensively studied in recent
years. Research in this field is being done in highly secured laboratories because of potential transmission of prions to
humans. Emerging similarities between mammalian and yeast prions allow using yeast-based assays to examine the activity of
anti-prion drugs. Besides the intensively studied clinical aspects of prion diseases, the evolutionary aspects of prion proteins
present in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are also extensively investigated. One of the key feature of prions, the ability to be stable in two alternative conformations,
seems to play an important role in the evolution of this fungi, although some authors point out the negative influence of
these particles upon yeast physiology. In this review, the most intensively studied fields of the research carried out on
PSI+] prion in yeast are summarized. |
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Keywords: | Drug screening Prion Translation termination Yeast evolution |
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