Soil Bound Prions and Their Effect on Chronic Wasting Disease Prion Replication
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Authors
Stein, Sarah
Issue Date
2025
Volume
Issue
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Chronic Wasting Disease , Interspecies Transmission , Prion , Prion Transmission , Soil , Zoonosis
Alternative Title
Abstract
Prions are misfolded, infectious protein agents affecting mammals, including humans. The resulting group of neurodegenerative diseases are called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) and are unfailingly fatal in all species. Prions propagate via template misfolding, in which the host-encoded cellular conformation of the protein, PrPC, comes into contact with the infectious form of prion protein, PrPSc, and misfolds to match this conformation. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a highly infectious prion disease of cervids and is endemic in North America. There is evidence that soil may be an environmentally relevant matrix for prion transmission, allowing the proteins to remain stable and infectious for extended periods of time. Using relevant laboratory methodology, we assessed intraspecies infectivity of soil-bound prions. Structure of PrPSc is paramount to prion disease, impacting strain properties and cross-species transmission. We hypothesized that surface binding, to soil or otherwise, could alter the conformation of PrPSc, resulting in a change in prion strain properties and thus impacting zoonotic potential. With a combination of laboratory assay and bioassay, we investigated interspecies transmission and observable prion strain properties.
Description
2025
Citation
Publisher
Creighton University
License
Copyright is retained by the Author.
A non-exclusive distribution right is granted to Creighton University and to ProQuest following the publishing model selected above.