Abstract
[PSI+ ] variants are different infectious conformations of the same Sup35 protein. We show that when [PSI+ ] variants VK and VL co-infect a dividing host, only one prevails in the end and the host genetic background is involved in winner selection. In the 5V-H19 background, the VK variant dominates over the VL variant. The order of dominance is reversed in the 74-D694 background, where VL can coexists with VK for a short period, but will eventually take over. Differential interaction of chaperone proteins with distinct prion variant conformations can influence the outcome of competition. Expanding the Glycine/Methionine-rich domain of Sis1, an Hsp40 protein, helps the propagation of VL. Over-expression of the Hsp70 protein Ssa2 lowers the number of prion particles (propagons) in the cell. There is more reduction for VK than VL, causing the latter to dominate in some of the 5V-H19 and all of the 74-D694 cells tested. Consistently, depleting Ssa1 in 74-D694 strengthens VK. Swapping chromosomal alleles of SSA1/2 and SIS1 between 5V-H19 and 74-D694, including cognate promoters, is not sufficient to change the native dominance order of each background, suggesting there exist additional polymorphic factors that modulate [PSI+ ] competition.