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Abstract
Prions, the causative agent of chronic wasting disease (CWD) enter the environment through shedding of bodily fluids and carcass decay, posing a disease risk as a result of their environmental persistence. Plants have the ability to take up large organic particles, including whole proteins, and microbes. This study used wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to investigate the uptake of infectious CWD prions into roots and their transport into aerial tissues. The roots of intact wheat plants were exposed to infectious prions (PrPTSE) for 24 h in three replicate studies with PrPTSE in protein extracts being detected by western blot, IDEXX and Bio-Rad diagnostic tests. Recombinant prion protein (PrPC) bound to roots, but was not detected in the stem or leaves. Protease-digested CWD prions (PrPTSE) in elk brain homogenate interacted with root tissue, but were not detected in the stem. This suggests wheat was unable to transport sufficient PrPTSE from the roots to the stem to be detectable by the methods employed. Undigested PrPTSE did not associate with roots. The present study suggests that if prions are transported from the roots to the stems it is at levels that are below those that are detectable by western blot, IDEXX or Bio-Rad diagnostic kits.
Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by funding from the Alberta Prion Research Institute and the Peer-Review Project plan of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. NSERC and Alberta Innovates GSS scholarships awarded to J. R. are also gratefully acknowledged. Technical assistance by Renee Clark is greatly appreciated.
Supplemental Materials
Supplemental materials may be found here: http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/prion/article/27963/