Structural features distinguishing infectious ex vivo mammalian prions from non-infectious fibrillar assemblies generated in vitro

Seeded polymerisation of proteins forming amyloid fibres and their spread in tissues has been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple neurodegenerative diseases: so called “prion-like” mechanisms. While ex vivo mammalian prions, composed of multichain assemblies of misfolded host-encoded prion protein (PrP), act as lethal infectious agents, PrP amyloid fibrils produced in vitro generally do not. The high-resolution structure of authentic infectious prions and the structural basis of prion strain diversity remain unknown. Here we use cryo-electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy to examine the structure of highly infectious PrP rods isolated from mouse brain in comparison to non-infectious recombinant PrP fibrils generated in vitro. Non-infectious recombinant PrP fibrils are 10 nm wide single fibres, with a double helical repeating substructure displaying small variations in adhesive force interactions across their width. In contrast, infectious PrP rods are 20 nm wide and contain two fibres, each with a double helical repeating substructure, separated by a central gap of 8–10 nm in width. This gap contains an irregularly structured material whose adhesive force properties are strikingly different to that of the fibres, suggestive of a distinct composition. The structure of the infectious PrP rods, which cause lethal neurodegeneration, readily differentiates them from all other protein assemblies so far characterised in other neurodegenerative diseases.