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Published online 4 September 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1080

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Prions jump species barrier

Test tube experiments may help identify the most hazardous prion proteins.

Infectious prion proteins from hamsters can change normal proteins from mice into new, infectious forms of prion - simply by mixing the proteins together in a test tube.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston suggest their discovery could be turned into a useful test for whether a given prion strain is transmissible from one species to another.

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  • Is there a possibility, for example, that adding fish to cows feed can cause some sort of prion (mutation)for lack of a better word, which in turn would effect humans eating beef?

    • 05 Sep, 2008
    • Posted by: Phoenix LeBlanc
  • Most prions and amyloids develop fibrils even in yeast. These fibrils might be the key to infectious potentials.

    • 05 Sep, 2008
    • Posted by: vermin rat
  • I think that Creutzfeld-Jakob is missing a t. Creutzfeldt-Jakob.

    • 07 Sep, 2008
    • Posted by: Josh Ross
  • "I think that Creutzfeld-Jakob is missing a t. Creutzfeldt-Jakob." It's a mutant strain.

    • 08 Sep, 2008
    • Posted by: Steve Green
  • Has anyone out there heard of Morgellons Disease? If so, do you think there could be a corralation with this... better than 80% of Morgellon's suffer's test positive for lymes disese, (most commonlly known to date by transmission through deer tiks) and as a suffer myself, I know for a fact, it is flesh eating, you can't kill it, nurological decline is a classic symptom and I belive in my case it laid predomanantly dormant in my body for around 12-14 years (hind sight) opinion. Any and all information regarding this submission is strongly encouraged and appreciated. To date there are over 14,000 registerd sufferer's in the US alone, it is world wide and there are registerd cases in every one of our states. Still looking for answers and in most cases, validation. Thank's, SKB

    • 08 Sep, 2008
    • Posted by: shawn burrell