Researchers identified the amino ac...

Researchers identified the amino acid order of succession that allows prions to aggregate and replicate, and they created the first artificial prions. Prions--misfolded proteins whose properties can be passed upon to daughter cells--are best know as the cause of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad overawe disease") and its human manifestation, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease. Prions swell by inducing normal proteins to alter their shape.