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What is a prion?

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Quick answer

A prion is a misfolded protein that can force normal proteins to misfold too, spreading damage through the brain. Prions cause rare, fatal diseases like mad cow disease — and uniquely, they are infectious without any DNA or RNA. It's a normal protein folded into the wrong, harmful shape.

Key things to understand

  1. It's a normal protein folded into the wrong, harmful shape.
  2. It converts healthy proteins into the same bad shape, like a chain reaction.
  3. Unlike viruses and bacteria, it carries no genetic material.
  4. It causes fatal brain diseases such as mad cow disease and CJD.
  5. Prions are extremely tough, resisting heat and normal disinfection.

People also ask

How can a protein be infectious?
A prion physically templates healthy proteins into its misfolded shape, so damage spreads without any genes — unlike any virus or microbe.
What diseases do prions cause?
Fatal brain diseases including mad cow disease (BSE), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, and scrapie in sheep.
Why are prions so hard to destroy?
Being just sturdy protein, they survive heat, radiation, and disinfectants that easily kill bacteria and viruses.