Table 2.
Functional amyloids and potential candidates for biological transmissible proteins*.
| Protein (organism) | Protein function | Changes produced by misfolded state | Transmissibility | References** |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sup35 (Yeasts) | Translation termination | Reduced translational fidelity; Increased survival in fluctuating environments | Transmitted from parent to daughter cells during cell division; Synthetic prions produced in vitro | (Wickner et al., 1995; Derkatch et al., 1996; Patino et al., 1996; Tanaka et al., 2004) |
| Ure2 (Yeasts) | Nitrogen catabolism | Indiscriminate utilization of nitrogen sources | Transmitted from parent to daughter cells during cell division; Synthetic prions produced in vitro | (Wickner, 1994; Masison et al., 1997; Brachmann et al., 2005) |
| Rnq1 (Yeasts) | Unknown | Induction of other prions | Transmitted from parent to daughter cells during cell division | (Sondheimer and Lindquist, 2000; Patel and Liebman, 2007) |
| HET-S (P. anserina) | Heterokaryon incompatibility | Inhibits mycelia fusion | Transmitted from parent to daughter cells during cell division; Synthetic prions produced in vitro | (Coustou et al., 1997; Maddelein et al., 2002) |
| CPEB (Aplysia) | Translational control of synapse-specific mRNAs | Maintains long-term synapse facilitation | Transmitted from parent to daughter cells during cell division in yeast; Synthetic prions produced in vitro | (Si et al., 2003; Si et al., 2010; Heinrich and Lindquist, 2011) |
| MAVS (Humans) | Anti-viral signaling | Binding to the transcription factor IRF3 and activation of innate immunity | Transmission in purified mitochondrial cultures | (Hou et al., 2011) |
| Curli (Bacteria) | Biofilm formation | Biofilm formation, host invasion | Not shown | (Chapman et al., 2002) |
| Chaplins (Bacteria) | Modulation of water surface tension | Aerial hyphae formation | Not shown | (Claessen et al., 2003) |
| Microcin (Bacteria) | Bacteriotoxin | Inhibit bacteriotoxic activity | Not shown | (Bieler et al., 2005) |
| Chorion proteins (Insects and fish) | Formation of eggshell | Protection of eggshell | Not shown | (Iconomidou et al., 2000) |
| Spidroins and other silk proteins (Spiders) | Silk formation | Structural component of spider web | Not shown | (Kenney et al., 2002) |
| Various peptide hormones (Humans) | Hormonal activity | Storage in pituitary secretory granules | Not shown | (Maji et al., 2009) |
| Fragments of prostatic acidic phosphatase | Phosphatase activity | Capture and promote HIV virion attachment to target cells | Not shown | (Munch et al., 2007) |
| Pme17 (Humans) | Pigment formation | Scaffolding and sequestration of toxic products in melanin synthesis | Not shown | (Fowler et al., 2006) |
*
There are more than 20 other yeast proteins that are not listed here, which have been proposed to act as prions (for a reference, see (Halfmann et al., 2010)
**
There are several more references that could have been cited, but for space constraints only the most relevant articles are listed.