Replicating RNA as a component of scrapie fibrils.

ABSTRACT: Recently, electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) maps of fibrils from the brains of mice and hamsters with five infectious scrapie strains have been published^1-5 and deposited in the electron microscopy data bank (EMDB)⁶. This represents long-awaited near-atomic level structural evidence, widely expected to confirm the protein-only prion hypothesis^7,8. Instead, the maps reveal a second component, other than protein. The aim of the present study was to identify the nature of this second component, in the published maps^1-5, using an in silico approach. Extra densities (EDs) containing this component were continuous, straight, axial, at right angles to protein rungs and within hydrogen-bonding distance of protein, consistent with a role as guide

SUBMITTER: Bridges LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10462133 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature