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VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
BEGIN:VEVENT
SEQUENCE:1
UID:UW-Physics-Event-4722
DTSTART:20180206T180500Z
DTEND:20180206T190000Z
DTSTAMP:20260419T040702Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180116T220135Z
LOCATION:4274 Chamberlin (Refreshments will be served)
SUMMARY:Prions and the environment\, Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar\,
  Joel Pedersen\, UW Department of Soil Science
DESCRIPTION:Prions are the enigmatic etiological agents of transmissib
 le spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs)\, a class of fatal neurodegenera
 tive diseases affecting humans and other mammals. The pathogenic prion
  protein is a misfolded form of the host-encoded prion protein and rep
 resents the predominant\, if not sole\, component of the infectious ag
 ent. Environmental routes of TSE transmission are implicated in epizoo
 tics of sheep scrapie and chronic wasting disease of deer\, elk\, and 
 moose. Soil is the most plausible candidate for preserving prion infec
 tivity in the environment. We have investigated prion attachment to an
 d detachment from inorganic and organic soil particle surfaces and exa
 mined the effect of association with specific soil constituents on dis
 ease transmission. Interaction of prions with some phyllosilicate mine
 ral surfaces is remarkably strong. Interestingly\, rather than diminis
 hing bioavailability\, attachment to such particles enhances disease t
 ransmission. This finding suggests an explanation for environmental di
 sease transmission despite the presumably low levels of prions shed by
  infected animals. Our results to date suggest that prions released in
 to many soil environments are preserved near the surface in a bioavail
 able form\, likely perpetuating prion disease epizootics and exposing 
 other species to the infectious agent. The high stability of prions ob
 served in other contexts may contribute to their survival in the natur
 al and engineered environments.
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=4722
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