Abstract:
Prions have long been closely associated with fatal neurodegenerative diseases. Recent evidence suggests that prions provide an additional class of epigenetic mechanism that works at a rapid pace. From an evolutionary standpoint, the ability to change phenotypes without waiting for a genetic variance would be hugely beneficial in a high-stress environment. Using two known techniques for increasing de novo prion formation, protein overexpression, and environmental stressor, the Garcia Lab performed a large-scale screen across many RNA modifying enzymes in budding yeast. The initial analysis of the resulting growth curves suggests that putative prion-state induction could be a widespread epigenetic mechanism across yeast.