Prions are normal proteins of neurological tissues in mammals.
The exact 3D structures of prions PRPC and PrPSc are not yet known. Our approach to modeling prion 3D structures has been to find structural motifs in common between prion peptide sequences and other proteins whose 3D structures are known. We use protein structural databases and computeroriented searching and matching algorithms. Thus the Ml29V polymorphism leads to 3D structural changes that affect disease-specificity of human prions.