Prions in the environment

Figures & data

Figure 1 The complex nature of prion-soil interactions.

Figure 2 Prion models used to study environmental fate.

Table 1 Review of prion sorption literature

Soil/Mineral	Sorption capacity (µgPrP/mg)	Equilibration time	Prion material used	Method(s) used	Reference
Whole soils	ND	24 h, 7 d, 21d	ME7 (mouse) BH	Sarkosyl extraction, supernatant & pellet WB	74
		2 h–90 d	ovine recPrP	Sarkosyl extraction, supernatant & pellet WB	74
		1–60 d	ovine recPrP	SDS boiling, electroelution, WB & ELISA	73
		1 h	263K (hamster) BH	Detergent extract, low speed sep., supernatant WB	81
		2 h	purified HY (hamster) PrP^Sc	Sucrose sep., SDS boiling extraction, pellet WB	68
		1, 3 & 6 months	ovine recPrP	SDS boiling extraction, WB	75
		1 h	RML (mouse) BH	Direct detection 96-well assay	69
		1–26 months	263K (hamster) BH	SDS boiling extraction, pellet WB	24
Loamy soil (w/high OM)	30.5	2 h	ovine recPrP	Batch & flow through, supernatant UV spec	78
Sandy soil (w/high OM)	15.5	2 h	ovine recPrP	Batch & flow through, supernatant UV spec	78
Organic matter	333 or 1000	2 h	ovine recPrP	Batch & flow through, supernatant UV spec	78
Catechol (synthetic OM)	ND	1 h–72 h	ovine recPrP, C-term recPrP	Detergent Extraction, CD measurements	76
Fine quartz sand	>110 pH 4, >50 pH 7	4 h	purified HY (hamster) PrP^Sc	Sucrose sep., supernatant ELISA	79
Quartz microparticles	13.6–27.1	2 h	purified HY (hamster) PrP^Sc	Sucrose sep., SDS boiling extraction, pellet WB	68
Mica	ND	1 h	ovine recPrP	Radiolabeled recPrP in flow-through setup	71
Kaolinite	1.7–2.6	2 h	purified HY (hamster) PrP^Sc	Sucrose sep., SDS boiling extraction, pellet WB	68
	≈50	10 min	murine recPrP	Batch, high speed centrifug. sep., supernatant UV spec	77
Montmorillonite-Na^+	ND	10 h	ovine recPrP	FTIR-spectra comparisions	70
	87–174	2 h	purified HY (hamster) PrP^Sc	Sucrose sep., SDS boiling extraction, pellet WB	68
	1000	2 h	ovine recPrP, C-term recPrP	SDS boiling, electroelution, WB & ELISA	73
	>1200	10 min	murine recPrP	Batch, high speed centrifug. sep., supernatant UV spec	77
Montmorillonite-Ca^2+	>400	10 min	murine recPrP	Batch, high speed centrifug. sep., supernatant UV spec	77

ND: not determined, OM: organic matter, BH: brain homogenate, WB: western blot, UV spec: ultraviolet spectroscopy.