Heritable activity: a prion that propagates by covalent autoactivation

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Abstract
Known prions (infectious proteins) are self-propagating amyloids or conformationally altered proteins, but in theory an enzyme necessary for its own activation could also be a prion (or a gene composed of protein).We show that yeast protease B is such a prion, called [β].[β] is infectious, reversibly curable, and its de novo generation is induced by overexpression of the pro-protease. Present in normal cells but masked by the functionally redundant protease A, [β] is advantageous during starvation and necessary for sporulation.We propose that other enzymes whose active, modified, form is necessary for their maturation might also be prions.