Sentences with phrase «infectious proteins»

He proposed that the protein becomes infectious and destructive only when its shape is altered, and that this change occurs either through infection by an already infectious protein or through a genetic mutation.

After 30 minutes, they began observing whether the injected material generated new infectious protein at the injection site.

But in the case of infectious proteins called prions, brittleness makes for a tougher, more menacing pathogen.

These diseases are thought to be caused by prions (pronounced pree - ons), infectious protein particles — normal cellular proteins that supposedly change their shape and then mold other protein molecules into the same sickly altered form.

Later radiation biologist Tikvah Alper and the mathematician John Stanley Griffith advanced the hypothesis that scrapie and Creutzfeldt — Jakob disease are were caused by infectious protein, seemingly contradicting the central dogma.

They exist in all mammals and birds that have been examined, including humans, and become destructive only when their shape is altered, a change that occurs either through infection by an already infectious protein or through a genetic mutation.)

Many researchers believe that prions or «infectious proteins» are responsible for this damage, but they have lacked solid proof.

«The bright side of an infectious protein: Stress sensors promote yeast cell survival.»

Our results provide compelling evidence that prions are infectious proteins.

The deformed or misfolded protein might then spread via the nervous system to the brain as a prion, or infectious protein, in similar fashion to mad cow disease.

Prions are the «infectious proteins» behind diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Researchers are reporting what they say is the most compelling evidence, to date, that the infectious proteins called prions that cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or «mad cow» disease, have infected humans, causing fatal brain degeneration.

Two important questions face biologists studying the infectious proteins called prions: What stops prions that infect one species from infecting another species and what causes the invisible...