Blessings in disguise: biological benefits of prion-like mechanisms
Name
Newby GA & Lindquist S. -Blessings in Disguise- Biological Benefits of Prion-Like Mechanisms.- TCB (2013).pdf
Size
9.12 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
eff1a6ffc35a3ef4563e17fbf6cac969
Author(s)
Newby, Gregory Arthur
Lindquist, Susan
Date Issued
June 2013
Journal
Trends in Cell Biology
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Newby, Gregory A., and Susan Lindquist. “Blessings in Disguise: Biological Benefits of Prion-Like Mechanisms.” Trends in Cell Biology 23, no. 6 (June 2013): 251-259.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Prions and amyloids are often associated with disease, but related mechanisms provide beneficial functions in nature. Prion-like mechanisms (PriLiMs) are found from bacteria to humans, where they alter the biological and physical properties of prion-like proteins. We have proposed that prions can serve as heritable bet-hedging devices for diversifying microbial phenotypes. Other, more dynamic proteinaceous complexes may be governed by similar self-templating conformational switches. Additional PriLiMs continue to be identified and many share features of self-templating protein structure (including amyloids) and dependence on chaperone proteins. Here, we discuss several PriLiMs and their functions, intending to spur discussion and collaboration on the subject of beneficial prion-like behaviors.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tcb.2013.01.007
