# PRIONS-is there such a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 12, 2000, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions-is-there-such-a-thing/17705 "2000-03-12T04:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions-is-there-such-a-thing/17705/1 "2000-03-12T04:42:00Z")
The topic was previously discussed under Cecil’s Virus column: [http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000477.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000477.html) I’m going to pull up some addresses, back soon. ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions-is-there-such-a-thing/17705/2 "2000-03-12T04:52:00Z")
I haven’t read enough of Stanley Prusiner (his homepage is somewhere in [www.life.nthu.edu.tw/)](http://www.life.nthu.edu.tw/)) to really shoot down any ideas. But there seem to be some missing pieces of information. [http://slate.msn.com/heywait/97-10-10/heywait.asp](http://slate.msn.com/heywait/97-10-10/heywait.asp) Reading that I started to think that since the medical problem of scrapies, mad cow disease, kuru etc. simply involves a conformational change in a protein, perhaps the explanation is simply a physical change. There is no evidence of replication. We know that different crystal forms, I think they are …?..forgot the word…can form from lots of chemicals depending on seed crystals and conditions. Another article was kinder to Prusiner: [www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1999/may/lewis\_pl\_990510.html](http://www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1999/may/lewis_pl_990510.html) but still leaves open the purely physical (non viral etc)explanation. What if simply exposing to stomach and enzymes converts this sturdy prion protein into the nasty form? How they survive to the brain is a bigger mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions-is-there-such-a-thing/17705/3 "2000-03-12T04:55:00Z")
[http://www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1999/may/lewis\_p1\_990510.html](http://www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1999/may/lewis_p1_990510.html) try that for the second reference ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions-is-there-such-a-thing/17705/4 "2000-03-12T12:45:00Z")
If a prion fought a virus, which would win? What if the prion had a machete and the virus was a black belt in karate? ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions-is-there-such-a-thing/17705/5 "2000-03-13T06:53:00Z")
Moderator: I may have misjudged the Greatness appeal of the topic. Perhaps we could move this to general questions? ---
**Author:** ![Bored2001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47774/32.png) [@Bored2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bored2001)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions-is-there-such-a-thing/17705/6 "2000-03-12T22:52:00Z")
prions do not self-replicate. They are caused my a mutation in DNA and when that DNA is transcibed and translated THAT is when the Prion replicates. Prions cause disease by simply building up and blocking the pathways of a cell. ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prions-is-there-such-a-thing/17705/7 "2000-03-13T00:00:00Z")
What exactly is the prion, just the protein? Is there evidence of polysaccharides and other attached material?