Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Drive Emergence and Inheritance of Biological Traits

Chakrabortee, Sohini et al.

Cell, 167, 369-381, 2016. DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2016.09.017

Review by Derek Britain, Biophysics, Weiner Lab, derek.britain@ucsf.edu.

Chakrabortee et al. design and carry out a screen for proteins which, when over-expressed, establish heritable phenotypic states in yeast. Many of the states provide beneficial growth phenotypes under specific stress conditions. These states are stable for at least 100 generations post protein over-expression, and propagate in a prion-like manner through cytosolic inheritance. However the proteins do not form classic amyloid fibers. This work hints at a new class of prions that propagate genetic information while not forming stable protein aggregates, and expands our view of protein-based inheritance. It will be exciting to watch follow up experiments as these new prion proteins are better characterized and mechanisms of propagation are revealed.