HOW DO PRIONS REPLICATE?

                                                                        HOW DO PRIONS REPLICATE?

Here’s the prion information you all have been anxiously waiting for.

I never thought about this until I wrote Martian Rebirth, but think about it, prions are nothing but bits of protein containing none of the usual machinery, DNA or RNA usually required for multiplication of the organism. I’m not going to go into much detail because I don’t really understand it.

There are two types of prions and there are two theories on the characteristics of the prions, how they couple, and what is the result. The result of both theories is more prions. There is also a theory that other molecules are necessary for prion replication and here is where RNA from those molecules comes into play.

I also found out that the action of my prions from Mars is somewhat different than Earth prions. If you remember the prions from Mars start demonstrating an affect on the astronauts in a matter of months. Prions actually take 5 to 20 years to start showing an affect.

One last bit of information. In my story I mention that autoclaving does not totally destroy prions. The way to get rid of these little guys is sodium hypochlorite (bleach) or sodium hydroxide (lye).

Now you know what an ‘info dump’ is and have some knowledge of prion replication. Go impress your friends.