Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0830, USA. wickner@helix.nih.gov
Prion variants faithfully propagate across species barriers, but if the barrier is too high, new variants (mutants) are selected, as shown in a recent BMC Biology report. Protein sequence alteration can prevent accurate structural templating at filament ends producing prion variants.