Scripps research study reveals structural dynamics of single prion molecules
...ative diseases. Intriguingly, certain prions and amyloids can play beneficial roles. The subject of the new study, Sup35, enables protein-based inheritance in yeast. When this prion protein misfolds, it converts into self-perpetuating amyloid fibrils, thus altering its function in an inheritable manner. The...The unfolding of amyloid's true colors
...prised to find the organelle loaded with fibrillar amyloids of the glycoprotein Pme117, a critical player in t...ts, one called M{alpha}. After confirming that the amyloids were comprised of M{alpha} fibers, the authors tried to make M{alpha} fragments fold into amyloid in...New dye could offer early test for Alzheimer's
...t we have is a dye that lights up when it binds to amyloids that form in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. It's a completely new transduction scheme-a way of translating a physical or chemical event that's invisible to the naked eye, into a recognizable signal. Further wavelength adjustments in these dye...Unweaving amyloid fibers to solve prion puzzles
...e human analog of mad cow disease. But even though amyloids are common and implicated in a host of conditions,...rions join and form amyloid fibers. (While not all amyloids are composed of prions, all known prions, in their transmissible states, form amyloid fibers.) But s...Potent anticancer drug increases function of axons in mouse model of neurodegeneration
...eedings of the National Academy of Sciences . Tau amyloids are misshapened, insoluble proteins that clump in the brain and elsewhere and cause a host of debilitating diseases. Since many neurodegenerative diseases share or contribute to this pathology, the focus of therapy has been on drugs that break up the...Gene vaccine for Alzheimer's disease shows promising results
...tients with Alzheimer's disease, immunization with amyloids slowed the buildup of plaque on the brain and appeared to slow cognitive loss. "Although human clinical trials are still at least two years out, theoretically, we are on the right track," he said. Other UT Southwestern authors involved in the study ......f on its own. Doctors don't yet understand whether amyloids cause disease or result from it, but the fact that...n a protein's shape and its function. The study of amyloids is complicated by the fact that the shape of very few proteins is known, the mechanics of protein fo...