Limited understanding of the functional diversity of N-linked glycans as a major gap of prion biology
| Autor: | Ilia V. Baskakov |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Glycan Protein Conformation animal diseases Scrapie N linked glycans Computational biology Biology Biochemistry Prion Proteins Epitope Prion Diseases Secondary lymphoid organs 03 medical and health sciences Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience Functional diversity Polysaccharides Carbohydrate Conformation medicine Animals Humans Organism Extra Views Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy Cell Biology medicine.disease N-Acetylneuraminic Acid nervous system diseases 030104 developmental biology Infectious Diseases biology.protein |
| Zdroj: | Prion. 11:82-88 |
| ISSN: | 1933-690X 1933-6896 |
| Popis: | Among a broad range of hypotheses on the molecular nature of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy or scrapie agents discussed in 1960s was a hypothesis of self-replicating polysaccharides. While the studies of the past 40 years provided unambiguous proof that this is not the case, emerging evidence suggests that carbohydrates in the form of sialylated N-linked glycans, which are a constitutive part of mammalian prions or PrPSc, are essential in determining prion fate in an organism. The current extra-view article discusses recent advancements on the role of N-linked glycans and specifically their sialylation status in controlling prion fate. In addition, this manuscript introduces a new concept on the important role of strain-specific functional carbohydrate epitopes on the PrPSc surface as main determinants of strain-specific biologic features. According to this concept, individual strain-specific folding patterns of PrPSc govern selection of PrPC sialoglycoforms expressed by a host that can be accommodated within particular PrPSc structures. Strain-specific patterns of functional carbohydrate epitopes formed by N-linked glycans on PrPSc surfaces define strain-specific biologic features. As a constitutive part of PrPSc, the individual strain-specific patterns of carbohydrate epitopes propagate faithfully within a given host as long as individual strain-specific PrPSc structures are maintained, ensuring inheritance of strain-specific biologic features. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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