PHILADELPHIA: In a study biologists discovered that yeast cells need to build fibrous protein clumps, known as amyloids, when they form reproductive structures known as spores. But the proteins are destroyed soon after they serve their purpose.
Amyloids have been the key term in Alzheimer’s research for decades, as scientists believe that these clumps end up blocking the cell-to-cell signalling at synapses in the brain.
“Amyloids in the brain persist for decades. We just can’t get rid of them, yet yeast cells seem to have a mechanism for getting rid of them in 15 minutes,” says…