U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Virus and Prion Research: Ames, IA
 close



    Research

                    Research Projects
                                    Publications
                                    Collaborations
                                    News
                People

                    Staff Listing
                                    CareersSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Midwest Area Ames, Iowa National Animal Disease Center Virus and Prion Research Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications

Title:   Author  item
                                            Nicholson, Ericitem
                                            Vrentas, Catherineitem
                                            Greenlee, Justin
  Submitted to: Protein Society Symposium
                                    Publication Type: Abstract Only
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 5/29/2012
                                    Publication  Date: 8/5/2012
                                    Citation: Nicholson, E.M., Vrentas, C.E., Greenlee, J.J. 2012. Stability of PrPSc from cattle inoculated with different BSE strains. 26th Annual Symposium of The Protein Society. p. 210.Interpretive Summary:
                                Technical Abstract: Prion diseases are a class of transmissible neurodegenerative diseases, caused by an infectious protein, that afflict humans and other mammals. The infectious agent is a host encoded protein known as PrP that has adopted a misfolded conformation termed PrP**Sc. The diseases have been shown to manifest by 3 different pathologic processes including sporadic/spontaneous, genetic, and infectious. In addition to genetic origin of prion disease, differences in the prion gene (PRNP) have been shown to influence incubation time and in some cases confer near absolute resistance in instances of infectious transmission. Despite the protein only nature of the infectious agent, the various prion diseases exist in many different strains, which depending upon the strain, can be differentiated by tissue distribution, brain lesion profiles, as well as glycoform analysis and molecular weight profile using western blot. In rodent adapted models, prion strains have also been shown to confer differences in the stability of PrP**Sc as determined using GdmCl denaturation. In addition, PrP**Sc stability has been shown to correlate well with incubation time such that the shortest incubation times result from the least stable prion strains. In natural host species, a priori predictions of incubation time based upon an in vitro assay are relevant for studies of pathogenesis and holds practical implications for disease management. Toward this goal, we assess the stability of PrP**Sc derived from age matched Holstein steers inoculated with 3 different strains of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) (H-type, L-type, and classical) as well as Transmissible Mink Encephalopathy (TME).* Each BSE strain is differentiable using glycoform analysis and molecular weight profile on a western blot, and the observed incubation time for TME, H-type BSE, and L-type BSE is considerably shorter than that for classical BSE. We compare the PrP**Sc stability determined using GdmCl unfolding of PrP**Sc monitored by ELISA to the observed incubation time.
*All work was performed with the approval of the institutional review board of the sponsoring institution.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov