Cited by 555Prion Diseases and Protein MisfoldingAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsGenetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms

Prions as adaptive conduits of memory and inheritance

Shorter, James, Lindquist, Susan·2005·Nature Reviews Genetics

Abstract

Changes in protein conformation drive most biological processes, but none have seized the imagination of scientists and the public alike as have the self-replicating conformations of prions. Prions transmit lethal neurodegenerative diseases by means of the food chain. However, self-replicating protein conformations can also constitute molecular memories that transmit genetic information. Here, we showcase definitive evidence for the prion hypothesis and discuss examples in which prion-encoded heritable information has been harnessed during evolution to confer selective advantages. We then describe situations in which prion-enciphered events might have essential roles in long-term memory formation, transcriptional memory and genome-wide expression patterns.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nrg1616

Cites

160 of 160 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Templated modification of protein structure subserves the transfer and storage of useful biological information in systems ranging from microbes to mammals.

    “Moreover, the templated modification of protein structure also subserves the transfer and storage of useful biological information in systems ranging from microbes to mammals107-110.”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Wickner, R. B., Liebman, S. W. & Saupe, S. J. in Prion Biology and Diseases (ed. Prusiner, S. B.) 305–372 (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press New York, 2004).
  2. Kong, Q. et al. in Prion Biology and Diseases (ed. Prusiner, S. B.) 673–775 (Cold Spring Laboratory Press New York, 2004).
  3. Krishnan, R. & Lindquist, S. L. New structural insights on a yeast prion illuminate nucleation and strain diversity. Nature (in the press). This paper defines which regions of the Sup35 prion domain make intermolecular contacts in assembled prion fibres. It also describes how variations in these intermolecular contacts facilitate the construction of different prion variants.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Shorter, J., & Lindquist, S.
Affiliations
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (US)
Corresponding author
  • Shorter, James
  • Lindquist, Susan
Venue
Nature Reviews Genetics
Published
2005-06
Volume
6
Issue
6
Pages
435-450
ISSN
  • 1471-0056 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-0064
OpenAlex
W2141566674
Cited by
555
References
160
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 38
FWCI
2.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Nature Reviews Genetics (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Charles A. King Trust
  • National Institutes of Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
Keywords
prions, protein conformation, prion hypothesis, molecular memory, evolution, neurodegenerative diseases, long-term memory, transcriptional memory, gene expression patterns
MeSH terms
Amyloid, Animals, Biological Evolution, Humans, Memory, Peptide Termination Factors, Prions, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review