Proteinaceous Infectious Particle (Prion) Biology

Dear Colleagues,

Prions have been defined as infectious protein particles capable of spreading from one cell to another and infecting an entire tissue (or organ). While the term "PRION" was coined by S. Prusiner in 1992 to describe the element responsible for Kuru disease, RB Wickner's genetic studies in the yeast S. cerevisiae in 1994 provided proof that the transmission of the "PRION+" trait was supported by non-Mendelian heredity, i.e., via the expression of the gene encoding the protein. It was also demonstrated in yeast that the phenomena of variants (strains) of the prion form of the same protein corresponded to different states of aggregation. Indeed, prion proteins always include an amyloid hydrophobic domain whose aggregation modifies the function of the adjacent globular domain.

Structural analyses characterized the phenomenon of amyloid aggregation and the influence of the cellular environment on the stability of the aggregation core and thus explained the different propagation capacities of the structural variants. Amyloid domains are also present in many proteins that regulate cell fate, such as MLKL, the effector of necroptosis, whose fungal orthologue, HET-S from P. anserina, is itself stimulated by a prion form. The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a better understanding of potential prion amyloid proteins.

Dr. Marie-Lise Maddelein
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• prions
• prion diseases
• infectious protein particles
• prion formation
• amyloid aggregation
• prion amyloid proteins
• yeast