title: A bovine prion acquires an epidemic bovine spongiform encephalopathy strain-like phenotype on interspecies transmission.
abstract: Implementation in Europe of large-scale testing to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-infected cattle and prevent the transmission of this prion disease to humans has recently led to the discovery of novel types of bovine prions. We characterized atypical isolates called BSE L-type by analyzing their molecular and neuropathological properties during transmission to several mouse lines transgenic for the prion protein (PrP). Unexpectedly, such isolates acquired strain features closely similar to those of BSE-type agents when propagated in mice expressing ovine PrP, although they retained phenotypic traits distinct from BSE in other lines, including bovine PrP mice. These findings further underline the relationship between the crossing of species barrier and prion strain diversification, and, although the origin of the epidemic BSE agent has only been speculative until now, they provide new insight into the nature of the events that could have led to the appearance of this agent.
authors.affiliation: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Unité de Recherche 892, Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires, F-78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France. vincent.beringue@jouy.inra.fr
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Béringue
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Andréoletti
authors.forename: Annick
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Le Dur
authors.forename: Rachid
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Essalmani
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vilotte
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lacroux
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Reine
authors.forename: Laëtitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Anne-Gaëlle
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Biacabé
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caramelli
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casalone
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Laude
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002417:Cattle; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000635:transmission*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010641:Phenotype; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D011328:Prions