Prions serve as an important driver in evolutionary adaptation
Recent evidence demonstrates that prion-based protein self-assembly and conformational switching can act as epigenetic mechanisms that tune mutagenesis and drive rapid adaptive responses in various organisms under environmental stress.
The claim posits that prions serve as an important driver in evolutionary adaptation. Papers [0] and [6] directly discuss the functional role of proteins with prion-like properties and prion-based switching in facilitating heritable information transfer, tuning mutagenesis, and enabling rapid adaptation in populations under selective pressure. Therefore, the claim is supported by the retrieved literature.
Kulkarni P, Porter L, Chou TF, Chong S, Chiti F, Schafer JW, Mohanty A, Ramisetty S, Onuchic JN, Tuite M, Uversky VN, Weninger KR, Koonin EV, Orban J, Salgia R. Evolving concepts of the protein universe.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112012
This paper notes that numerous diverse proteins harbor segments capable of forming functional amyloid fibrils and possessing prion-like properties that enable the conformation-based transfer of heritable information.
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Van Elgort A, Jakobson CM, Chen YR, Byers JS, Futia RA, Lozanoski TM, Harvey ZH, Xie JL, Garcia DM, Jarosz DF. Prion-based protein self-assembly tunes mutagenesis to enable rapid adaptation.. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.018
This study demonstrates that frequent prion-based switching of DNA repair and recombination proteins alters mutagenesis, providing adaptive benefits and enabling rapid adaptation in short-term evolution under strong selective pressure.
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