Legal but lethal: functional protein aggregation at the verge of toxicity

摘要: Many neurodegenerative disorders are linked to irreversible protein aggregation, a process that usually comes along with toxicity and serious cellular damage. However, it is emerging aggregation can also serve for physiological purposes, as impressively shown prions. While the of this family was initially considered exclusively toxic in mammalians organisms, now almost clear many other proteins adopt prion-like attributes rationally polymerise into higher order complexes organised physiologic roles. This implies cells tolerate at least some measure accumulation inherently dangerous aggregates functional profit. review summarises currently known strategies living organisms preserve beneficial prevent catastrophic frequently accompany neurodegeneration.