title: Cellular prion protein in ovine milk.
abstract: Cellular prion protein, PrP(C), is essential for the development of prion diseases where it is considered to be a substrate for the formation of the disease-associated conformer, PrP(Sc). In sheep, PrP(C) is abundant in neuronal tissue and is also found at lower concentrations in a range of non-neuronal tissues, including mammary gland. Here, we demonstrate the presence of soluble PrP(C) in the non-cellular, non-lipid fraction of clarified ovine milk. Compared with brain-derived PrP(C), ovine milk PrP(C) displays an increased electrophoretic mobility. Ovine milk PrP(C) is mainly present as three species that differ in the extent of their N-linked glycosylation, with glycoform profiles varying among animals. Similar PrP(C) species are also present in fresh and commercial homogenised/pasteurised bovine milk, with additional N-terminal PrP(C) fragments detectable in ruminant milk and commercial milk products.
authors.affiliation: ADAS UK, Department of Biology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK.
authors.forename: Ben C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Maddison
authors.forename: Garry C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Whitelam
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Gough
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005504:Food Analysis; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D018621:PrPC Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D018621:PrPC Proteins