Genetic Methods for Studying Yeast Prions
- 1Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-0830;
- 2Department of Pharmacology, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
- ↵3Correspondence: wickner{at}helix.nih.gov
Abstract
The recognition that certain long-known nonchromosomal genetic elements were actually prions was based not on the specific phenotypic manifestations of those elements, but rather on their unusual genetic properties. Here, we outline methods of prion assay, methods for showing the nonchromosomal inheritance, and methods for determining whether a nonchromosomal trait has the unusual characteristics diagnostic of a prion. Finally, we discuss genetic methods often useful in the study of yeast prions.
