Figure 1. Experimental design for analysis of PrP^Sc elongation rate.

Schematic representation of kinetics of PrP^Sc amplification within individual PMCAb cycles (top panels, three cycles are shown for simplicity) or within individual PMCAb rounds as a function of cycle number (bottom panels) for a strain with fast elongation rate (A) or slow elongation rate (B). The length of incubation intervals between the sonication cycles are 30 min (solid lines), 10 min (dashed lines) or 5 min (dotted lines). For a strain with a fast elongation rate, the amplification is equally effective regardless of the length of incubation intervals (A); whereas for a strain with slow elongation rate, shortening of incubation intervals leads to less effective amplification (B).