The proposed cause of CJD and kuru in humans, mad cow diseas…
The proposed cause of CJD and kuru in humans, mad cow disease, and scrapie in sheep is a change in a brain protein. Disease victims appear to have a protein that should normally contain alpha helices but instead they have changed into a protein made of beta pleated sheets. The disease appears to spread when the abnormal protein comes into contact with the normal protein, causing it to become deformed. Which level of protein structure is associated with these diseases?