Meaning of PRION

Pronunciation:			'prIân
WordNet Dictionary
	Definition:		[n]  (microbiology) an infectious protein particle similar to a virus but lacking nucleic acid; thought to be the agent responsible for scrapie and other degenerative diseases of the nervous system
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	See Also:		particle
Biology Dictionary
	Definition:		A proposed pathogen composed only of protein with no detectable nucleic acid and which is responsible for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and kuru in humans and scrapie in sheep. The so-called "slow viruses" are a group of infective agents of which very little information is known. In fact, one is not sure if these agent has compositions resembling that of the viruses: all one knows is that they are communicable, with slow replication and long latent intervals in the host. Another name given to these agents is "prions" : proteinaceous and infectious. An example is scrapie, which is a disease of sheep; its incubation period is longer than 4 months, and the prion can withstand boiling, x-ray irradiation, and treatment with formalin. In 1996, bovine spongiform encephalopathy was linked to the ingestion of beef infected with prions (the mad-cow disease). It was speculated that the prions induced changes in the conformation of certain proteins of brain cells.
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Glossary
	Definition:		See Proteinaceous infectious particle Proteinaceous infectious particle.A proposed pathogen composed only of protein with no detectable nucleic acid and which is responsible for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and kuru in humans and scrapie in sheep. a microscopic particle that causes nervous system diseases in nonhuman animals and has been implicated as the cause of kuru. The prion appears to be composed of protein and lacks any nucleic acid.
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