Question

Are prions smaller than viroids?

Answer 1

Viroids:

1. They are pathogens that affect only plants.
2. They are also known as plant pathogens.
3. They possess circular strands of RNA with no protein coating.

Prions:

1. They are proteinaceous infectious particles.
2. They cause several neurodegenerative diseases in mammals, eg- Creutzfeldt Jakob disease.
3. They are self-replicating misfolded proteins.
4. Prions are smaller than viroids.
5. The size of a typical prion is less than 15 nm (diameter) whereas the size of a typical viroid is 246-467 nucleotides long (1 nucleotide = approx. 0.6 nm).