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Concept information

Preferred term

prions

Type

  • Chemical

Definition

  • Information Small proteinaceous infectious particles which resist inactivation by procedures that modify nucleic acids and contain an abnormal isoform of a cellular protein which is a major and necessary component. The abnormal (scrapie) isoform is PrPSc; the cellular isoform is PrPC. The primary amino acid sequence of the two isoforms is identical. Among diseases caused by prions are scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and Creuzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome.

Broader concept

Narrower concepts

Synonyms

  • prion proteins
  • PrP proteins

In other languages

URI

https://lod.nal.usda.gov/nalt/40965

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RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD Created 1/19/06, last modified 12/30/15