A drug researcher has developed a macromolecule that can bind to scrapie and thus change the prion's conformation. What effect might this have on the actions of scrapie?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Prions, like scrapie, propagate by inducing normal proteins to change their shape to the abnormal form. By changing the conformation of the scrapie prion, it could prevent it from converting normal proteins into the pathogenic form, thus potentially halting the spread of the disease. Prions do not contain DNA or RNA, so options related to nucleic acid processes (transcription, replication, translation) are not applicable.

A Drug Researcher Has Developed a Macromolecule That Can Bind