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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2008 May 12.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Microbiol. 2007 Aug;5(8):611–618. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro1708

Figure 3. Chaperones and prions.

Figure 3

Chaperones (tan shapes) may help prion propagation by breaking long amyloid filaments into shorter ones thereby creating new growth points for amyloid formation (seeds). Chaperones may also hinder prion propagation by binding to the ends of filaments thereby blocking their growth or by binding to the soluble form of the protein thereby preventing the protein from joining the chain. Certainly Hsp104, and probably the cytoplasmic Ssa Hsp70s, have a role in filament breakage.