Nadia Halim | Mar 5, 2000 | 7 min read
© Cell PressA transmission electron micrograph of Sup35 protein that has formed amyloid fibers from its prion structure Though mounting evidence points to prions as the infectious element in diseases such as scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD), direct proof is missing. A prion has the same amino acid sequence as the normal protein, but it has an altered structural form. The protein-only hypothesis states that a prion can cause disease and also spread it without transmitting any genetic mate