Prion

A prion is an infectious protein whose misfolded shape induces compatible proteins to misfold, allowing the abnormal structure to propagate without genetic material.

Protein misfolding: Protein misfolding is the adoption of a structure that differs from a protein’s functional conformation. Prion propagation is a distinctive infectious form of protein misfolding.
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease: Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a rapidly progressive human neurodegenerative disorder caused by prions. It is the best-known human prion disease.
Stanley B. Prusiner: Stanley B. Prusiner is an American neurologist who proposed the prion concept and received the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He named prions and developed the protein-only explanation of their infectivity.
PRNP: PRNP is the gene encoding cellular prion protein in humans and other mammals. Prion disease depends on the host protein encoded by this gene.
Virus: A virus is an infectious agent containing a nucleic-acid genome enclosed in a protein coat or membrane. Unlike viruses, prions propagate without a nucleic-acid genome.
Amyloid: Amyloid is an ordered protein aggregate built from stacked beta-sheet-rich fibrils. Many prion aggregates form amyloid fibrils that accumulate in tissue.
Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease: Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a human prion disease linked to exposure to the agent causing bovine spongiform encephalopathy. It demonstrates that animal prions can cross into humans.
John Stanley Griffith: John Stanley Griffith was a British biologist whose 1967 paper proposed protein-based mechanisms for scrapie transmission. His theoretical proposals anticipated key features of the prion hypothesis.
Prion protein gene mutation: A prion protein gene mutation is a sequence change in PRNP that can increase susceptibility to inherited prion disease. Inherited mutations can favor disease-causing conformations.
Bacterium: A bacterium is a single-celled microorganism with cellular machinery and a genome. Prions are protein particles, not cells capable of independent metabolism.

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