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Bovine prion protein fragment, molecular model
Illustration of the C-terminal fragment of the bovine (cow) prion protein. Prions are abnormal proteins that cause a group of fatal neurodegenerative diseases including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cows and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans. Unlike other infectious agents prions do not have a nucleic acid genome for replication. Instead, the abnormal infectious prions change normal prions, found in cell membranes, to the abnormal form. This leads to a build up of protein plaques and neurodegeneration., by FRANCISCO J. ENGUITA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
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