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• 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

• Opponents of the prion theory say this proves the proteins don't cause disease.
• Eating the stuff brings with it the danger of genetic contamination andor prion poisoning.
• A form of protein called a prion is believed to cause the disease, spreading through Europe, called: a.

News & Articles

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• The ribosome: New target for antiprion medicines
  The key to treating neurodegenerative prion diseases such as mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease may lie in the ribosome, the protein synthesis machinery of the cell. Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative diseases caused by misfolding of prion proteins. Examples of prion diseases are scrapie in sheep, mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in human.
  July 2, 2013 - Science Daily

Quotes

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• Charles Weissmann in BBC News
  It was generally thought that once cellular prion protein was converted into the abnormal form, there was no further change, Mr Weissmann said. "But there have been hints that something was happening. When you transmit prions from sheep to...
• Susan Lindquist in Science Daily (press release)
  One of the major tenets of the prion hypothesis is that a single amino acid change in PrP, associated with human disease, is sufficient to cause the spontaneous production of infectious material,says Lindquist, who is also a professor of...
• Laura Manuelidis in BBC News
  Professor Manuelidis said: "This, as well as our previous results showing that most of the abnormal prion protein can be separated from infectious particles, point to a virus as the causal agent."