High prevalence of prion protein genotype associated with resistance to chronic wasting disease in one Alberta woodland caribou population

ABSTRACT

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease found in deer, elk and moose in North America and since recently, wild reindeer in Norway. Caribou are at-risk to encounter CWD in areas such as Alberta, Canada, where the disease spreads toward caribou habitats. CWD susceptibility is modulated by species-specific polymorphisms in the prion protein gene (Prnp). We sequenced Prnp of woodland caribou from 9 Albertan populations. In one population (Chinchaga) a significantly higher frequency of the 138N allele linked to reduced CWD susceptibility was observed. These data are relevant for developing CWD management strategies including conservation of threatened caribou populations.

KEYWORDS:

• caribou
• chronic wasting disease
• conservation
• genetic resistance
• prion protein
• prion protein gene polymorphism

DISCLOSURE OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

FUNDING

This work was supported by a research grant from the Alberta Conservation Association and by a Genome Canada Large Scale Applied Research Program grant to SG and a NSERC Discovery Grant to MM. SG is supported by the Canada Research Chair program. We also thank Alberta Environment and Parks, Government of Alberta and Parks Canada for continued collaboration. We are grateful to Grace Kwong for help with biostatistics.