Prions, the misfolded proteins that are known for causing degenerative illnesses in animals and humans, may have been spotted for the first time in plants.
Researchers report that they have found a section of protein in thale cress (Arabidopsis) that behaves like a prion when it is inserted into yeast.
In plants, the protein is called Luminidependens (LD), and it is normally involved in responding to daylight and controlling flowering time. When a part of the LD gene is inserted into yeast, it produces a protein that does not fold up normally, and which spreads this misfolded state to proteins around it in a domino effect that causes aggregates or clumps. Later generations of yeast cells inherit the effect: their versions of the protein also misfold.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/plant-protein-behaves-like-a-prion/
Paper: http://www.nature.com/news/prions-and-chaperones-outside-the-fold-1.10026
Researchers report that they have found a section of protein in thale cress (Arabidopsis) that behaves like a prion when it is inserted into yeast.
In plants, the protein is called Luminidependens (LD), and it is normally involved in responding to daylight and controlling flowering time. When a part of the LD gene is inserted into yeast, it produces a protein that does not fold up normally, and which spreads this misfolded state to proteins around it in a domino effect that causes aggregates or clumps. Later generations of yeast cells inherit the effect: their versions of the protein also misfold.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/plant-protein-behaves-like-a-prion/
Paper: http://www.nature.com/news/prions-and-chaperones-outside-the-fold-1.10026