RNAs That Behave Like Prions

ABSTRACT The term “prion” was originally coined to describe the proteinaceous infectious agents involved in mammalian neurological disorders. More recently, a prion has been defined as a nonchromosomal, protein-based genetic element that is capable of converting the copies of its own benign variant...

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Autores principales:	Arcady R. Mushegian, Santiago F. Elena
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2020
Materias:	piRNA prions ribozymes viroids Microbiology QR1-502
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4bad8a2fa38e4600b5ca663d77e7cc85
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4bad8a2fa38e4600b5ca663d77e7cc852021-11-15T15:30:50ZRNAs That Behave Like Prions10.1128/mSphere.00520-202379-5042https://doaj.org/article/4bad8a2fa38e4600b5ca663d77e7cc852020-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mSphere.00520-20https://doaj.org/toc/2379-5042ABSTRACT The term “prion” was originally coined to describe the proteinaceous infectious agents involved in mammalian neurological disorders. More recently, a prion has been defined as a nonchromosomal, protein-based genetic element that is capable of converting the copies of its own benign variant into the prion form, with the new phenotypic effects that can be transmitted through the cytoplasm. Some prions are toxic to the cell, are able to aggregate and/or form amyloid structures, and may be infectious in the wild, but none of those traits are seen as an integral property of all prions. We propose that the definition of prion should be expanded, to include the inducible transmissible entities undergoing autocatalytic conversion and consisting of RNA rather than protein. We show that when seen in this framework, some naturally occurring RNAs, including ribozymes, riboswitches, viroids, viroid-like retroelements, and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), possess several of the characteristic properties of prions.Arcady R. MushegianSantiago F. ElenaAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticlepiRNAprionsribozymesviroidsMicrobiologyQR1-502ENmSphere, Vol 5, Iss 4 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	piRNA prions ribozymes viroids Microbiology QR1-502
spellingShingle	piRNA prions ribozymes viroids Microbiology QR1-502 Arcady R. Mushegian Santiago F. Elena RNAs That Behave Like Prions
description	ABSTRACT The term “prion” was originally coined to describe the proteinaceous infectious agents involved in mammalian neurological disorders. More recently, a prion has been defined as a nonchromosomal, protein-based genetic element that is capable of converting the copies of its own benign variant into the prion form, with the new phenotypic effects that can be transmitted through the cytoplasm. Some prions are toxic to the cell, are able to aggregate and/or form amyloid structures, and may be infectious in the wild, but none of those traits are seen as an integral property of all prions. We propose that the definition of prion should be expanded, to include the inducible transmissible entities undergoing autocatalytic conversion and consisting of RNA rather than protein. We show that when seen in this framework, some naturally occurring RNAs, including ribozymes, riboswitches, viroids, viroid-like retroelements, and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), possess several of the characteristic properties of prions.
format	article
author	Arcady R. Mushegian Santiago F. Elena
author_facet	Arcady R. Mushegian Santiago F. Elena
author_sort	Arcady R. Mushegian
title	RNAs That Behave Like Prions
title_short	RNAs That Behave Like Prions
title_full	RNAs That Behave Like Prions
title_fullStr	RNAs That Behave Like Prions
title_full_unstemmed	RNAs That Behave Like Prions
title_sort	rnas that behave like prions
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/4bad8a2fa38e4600b5ca663d77e7cc85
work_keys_str_mv	AT arcadyrmushegian rnasthatbehavelikeprions AT santiagofelena rnasthatbehavelikeprions
_version_	1718427882949181440

RNAs That Behave Like Prions

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