William Wells | Oct 5, 2000 | 1 min read
The yeast protein Sup35 is essential for translation termination, but its prion [PSI+] form reduces the fidelity of the termination process. Conversion of Sup35 into the prion form could therefore alter the sequence of multiple proteins at the same time, perhaps providing an engine for evolutionary change. In the 28 September Nature, True and Lindquist find that in nearly half of a long list of culture conditions tested, the presence of [PSI+] exerted a substantial effect on strain growth (Natur