|
'''Structural inheritance''' is the transmission of a trait in a living [[organism]] by a self-perpetuating spatial structures. This is in contrast to the transmission of digital information such as is found in [[DNA]] sequences, which accounts for the vast majority of known [[genetics|genetic]] variation.
Examples of structural inheritance include the propagation of [[prion]]s, the infectious proteins of diseases such as scrapie (in sheep and goats), bovine spongiform encephalopathy ('mad cow disease') and Cruetzfeld-Jakob disease (although the protein-only hypothesis of prion transmission has been considered contentious until recently.) <ref>{{cite journal |author=Soto C, Castilla J. |title=The controversial protein-only hypothesis of prion propagation. |journal=Nat. Med. 2004 Jul;|volume=10 |issue=Suppl:S63-7.|pages=S63–7 |year=2004 |month=July |pmid=15272271 |doi=10.1038/nm106910.1038/nm1069}}</ref> Prions based on heritable protein structure also exist in [[yeast]] <ref>{{cite journal |author=Masison andDC, Wickner, Science.RB 1995|title=Prion-inducing Oct___domain 6;of yeast Ure2p and protease resistance of Ure2p in prion-containing cells |journal=Science |volume=270( |issue=5233) |pages=93–5 |year=1995 |month=October |pmid=7569955 |url=http:93-5//www.sciencemag.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=7569955}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Tuite MF, Lindquist SL. |title=Maintenance and inheritance of yeast prions. |journal=Trends Genet. |volume=12 |issue=11 |pages=467–71 |year=1996 Nov;12|month=November |pmid=8973157 |url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0168-9525(1196):46710045-71.7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Serio TR, Cashikar AG, Kowal AS, Sawicki GJ, Lindquist SL. |title=Self-perpetuating changes in Sup35 protein conformation as a mechanism of heredity in yeast. |journal=Biochem. Soc. Symp. 2001;(|volume= |issue=68):35-43. |pages=35–43 |year=2001 |pmid=11573346 }}</ref>. Structural inheritance has also been seen in the orientation of [[cilium|cilia]] in protozoans such as ''Paramecium''<ref>{{cite BEISSON,journal |author=Beisson J. & SONNEBORN, T.Sonneborn M. (1965).TM |title=Cytoplasmic inheritance of the organization of the cell cortex ofin ''Paramecium aurelia.Aurelia'' |journal=Proc. natnNatl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=53, 275-282|issue= |pages=275–82 |year=1965 |month=February |pmid=14294056 |pmc=219507 }}</ref> and [''Tetrahymena'',<ref name=Nelsen89>{{cite journal |author=Nelsen EM, Frankel J, Jenkins LM |title=Non-genic inheritance of cellular handedness |journal=Development |volume=105 |issue=3 |pages=447–56 |year=1989 |month=March |pmid=2612360 |url=http://dev.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/105/3/447 ''Tetrahymena''],pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=2612360}} </ref>and 'handedness' of the sprialspiral of the cell in [http://dev.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/105/3/447 ''Tetrahymena''],<ref name=Nelsen89/> and shells of snails. Some [[organelle]]s also have structural inheritance, such as the centriole, and the [[cell (biology)|cell]] itself (defined by the [[plasma membrane]]) may also be an example of structural inheritance.
Various additional examples of structural inheritance are presented in the recent book [[Origination of Organismal Form]].
==External links==
*{{cite journal |title=Colloquium: Self-Perpetuating Structural States in Biology, Disease, and Genetics |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=99 |issue=Suppl 4 |pages=16377–506 |year=2002 |month=December |url=http://www.pnas.org/content/vol99/suppl_4/ }}
*''[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]'' supplement: [http://www.pnas.org/content/vol99/suppl_4/ ''Self-Perpetuating Structural States in Biology, Disease, and Genetics'']
==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}
<div class="references-small">
<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
<references/>
</div>
[[Category:Epigenetics]]
|
