Greetings List Friends.
We are back from a three week vacation which started with a heli-hike to
the alpine flower meadows of the Bugaboos in Eastern British Columbia
and ended with an 8 day cruise (on a 71 foot ketch with 10 other people)
of the southern Queen Charlotte Islands of the BC coast. Incredible
scenery, plant life and wild life in both cases.
The title is a quote from a clipping on the FSnet clipping service out
of the University of Guelph. The lead paragraphs state:
"Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Released
When a protein misfolds, the results can be disastrous. An incorrect
change in the molecule's shape can lead to diseases including
Alzheimer's and Huntington's. But scientists have discovered that
misfolded proteins can have a positive side in yeast, helping cells
navigate the dicey current of natural selection by expressing a variety
of hidden genetic traits.
This is the first time we've seen a prion affect a cell in a beneficial
way that can determine the evolution of an organism," says Heather True,
lead author of the paper, which will appear August 15 in the online
edition of the journal Nature.
Previously, True and Whitehead Institute Director Susan Lindquist
reported that a particular yeast protein called Sup35 somehow altered
the metabolic properties--or phenotype--of the cell when it "misfolded"
into a prion state. Sup35 helps guide the process by which cells
manufacture protein molecules. However, when Sup35 misfolds into its
prion state, it forms amyloid fibers similar to those found in
Alzheimer's patients and causes the cell's protein-producing machinery
to go drastically awry."
I did a google for {prions and "Susan Lindquist"} and found 786 hits.
Lindquist has several papers/articles on the subject. The website for
Lindquist is:
http://www.whitehead.mit.edu/far/lindquist/far_lindquis
t_lab.html
One of her papers on the subject is:
http://www.wi.mit.edu/nap/features/nap_feature_memory.htmlv
<http://www.wi.mit.edu/nap/features/nap_feature_memory.html
>
Heather True's web bio is at;
http://www.cellbio.wustl.edu/faculty/True.htm
One of her papers on the subject (which appears to be the source of the
FSnet clip) is:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2004/prions.html
Regards
Ross Gould, P.Ag. Retired
Calgary, Alberta
