Prion protein NMR structure and species barrier for prion diseases.

ABSTRACT: The structural basis of species specificity of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or "mad cow disease" and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, has been investigated using the refined NMR structure of the C-terminal domain of the mouse prion protein with residues 121-231. A database search for mammalian prion proteins yielded 23 different sequences for the fragment 124-226, which display a high degree of sequence identity and show relevant amino acid substitutions in only 18 of the 103 positions. Except for a unique isolated negative surface charge in the bovine protein, the amino acid differences are clustered in three distinct regions of the three-dimensional structure of the cellular form of the prion protein. Two of these regions represe

SUBMITTER: Billeter M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC23812 | biostudies-literature | 1997 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature