Science :Prions and the Inheritance of Environmentally Acquired Traits

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Science 29 October 2010:
Vol. 330. no. 6004, pp. 629 - 632
DOI: 10.1126/science.1191081
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PERSPECTIVE
Epigenetics in the Extreme: Prions and the Inheritance of Environmentally Acquired Traits
Randal Halfmann1,2 and Susan Lindquist1,2,3,*
Prions are an unusual form of epigenetics: Their stable inheritance and complex phenotypes come about through protein folding rather than nucleic acid–associated changes. With intimate ties to protein homeostasis and a remarkable sensitivity to stress, prions are a robust mechanism that links environmental extremes with the acquisition and inheritance of new traits.
1 Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
2 Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

全文见:http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/330/6004/629