Prion is a protein-only infectious particle which is devoid of nucleic acids.
It can cause the deposition of denatured protein in mammalian central nervous system. The two proteins with different conformations, PrPC and PrPSc, are encoded by the same gene. Prion reproduces itself through the conformational change from PrPC to PrPSc. 288-289 4.Prusiner SB, Bolton DC, Groth DG, et al. Further purifucation and characterization of scrapie prion.