Prion Diseases of Mammals and Yeast: Molecular Mechanisms and Genetic Features (Medical Intelligence Unit)

A history of the study of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, a subject popularized by the recent "mad cow disease" epidemic in Great Britain. Wickner (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda) summarizes the study of the lethal infectious neurological diseases in sheep, kuru, and man, presenting newer evidence that the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae harbors infectious elements also transmitted by a protein (prion). In particular, the author emphasizes the genetics of these diseases, the yeast diseases URE3 and PSI, and speculates on the part that genetics might play in the discovery of other infectious proteins. Distributed by Chapman and Hall. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.