Abstract

An inert polysaccharide scaffold identified as a 5–15% component of prion rods (PrP 27–30) is unambiguously distinguishable from the N-glycosyl groups and the GPI anchor of PrP, and consists predominantly of 1,4-linked glucose with some branching via 1,4,6-linked glucose. We show that this polysaccharide scaffold is a common secondary component of prions found in hamster full-length PrP^Sc, prion rods and in mouse ScN2a prions from cell culture. The preparation from prion rods was improved, resulting in a polysaccharide scaffold free of remaining infectivity. Furthermore, we determined the stereochemistry of the glycoside linkages as pre-dominantly if not entirely α-glycosidic. The origin of the polysaccharide, its interaction with PrP and its potential relation to glycogen and corpora amylacea are discussed.