Eli5: As I understand, a prion is a misfolded protein. How does misfolding apparently give it the ability to break everything?

Question

Eli5: As I understand, a prion is a misfolded protein. How does misfolding apparently give it the ability to break everything?

In: 15

Answer 1

Prions are misfolded proteins that cause other proteins (typically the normal form of the protein) to misfold. A misfolded protein doesn’t do whatever that protein would have done if properly folded. If whatever it did was important, than not being able to do it makes the cell sick.