Manganese enhances prion protein survival in model soils and increases prion infectivity to cells.
Prion diseases are considered to be transmissible. The existence of sporadic forms of prion diseases such as scrapie implies an environmental source for the infectious agent. This would suggest that under certain conditions the prion protein, the accepted agent of transmission, can survive in the environment. We have developed a novel technique to extract the prion protein from soil matrices. Previous studies have suggested that environmental manganese is a possible risk factor for prion diseases. We have shown that exposure to manganese is a soil matrix causes a dramatic increase in prion protein survival (approximately 10 fold) over a two year period. We have also shown that manganese increases infectivity of mouse passaged scrapie to culture cells by 2 logs. These results clearly verify that manganese is a risk factor for both the survival of the infectious agent in the environment and its transmissibility.
Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.
Paul
P
Davies
David R
DR
Brown
D000327:Adsorption; D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D000077215:Clay; D004777:Environment; D008345:Manganese / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011328:Prions / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012307:Risk Factors; D012608:Scrapie / Q000378:metabolism*; D012987:Soil; D013997:Time Factors
D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D008670:Metals; D011328:Prions; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012987:Soil; D008345:Manganese; D000077215:Clay