Download MendeleyA structural basis for prion strain diversity.
Manka, S.W., Wenborn, A., Betts, J., Joiner, S., Saibil, H.R., Collinge, J., Wadsworth, J.D.F.(2023) Nat Chem Biol 19: 607-613
- PubMed: 36646960
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01229-7
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
8A00 - PubMed Abstract:
Recent cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) studies of infectious, ex vivo, prion fibrils from hamster 263K and mouse RML prion strains revealed a similar, parallel in-register intermolecular β-sheet (PIRIBS) amyloid architecture. Rungs of the fibrils are composed of individual prion protein (PrP) monomers that fold to create distinct N-terminal and C-terminal lobes. However, disparity in the hamster/mouse PrP sequence precludes understanding of how divergent prion strains emerge from an identical PrP substrate. In this study, we determined the near-atomic resolution cryo-EM structure of infectious, ex vivo mouse prion fibrils from the ME7 prion strain and compared this with the RML fibril structure. This structural comparison of two biologically distinct mouse-adapted prion strains suggests defined folding subdomains of PrP rungs and the way in which they are interrelated, providing a structural definition of intra-species prion strain-specific conformations.
Organizational Affiliation:
MRC Prion Unit at UCL, Institute of Prion Diseases, University College London, London, UK.
