Chronic wasting disease in Norway-A survey of prion protein gene variation among cervids.

Susceptibility of cervids to Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a prion disease, can be modulated by variations in the prion protein gene (PRNP), encoding the cellular prion protein (PrP ). In prion diseases, PrP is conformationally converted to pathogenic conformers (PrP ), aggregates of which comprise infectious prions. CWD has recently been observed in its contagious form in Norwegian reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and in novel, potentially sporadic forms, here called 'atypical CWD', in moose (Alces alces) and red deer (Cervus elaphus).

Chronic wasting disease associated with prion protein gene () variation in Norwegian wild reindeer ().

The emergence of CWD in Europe in 2016 and the first natural infection in wild reindeer warranted disease management. This led to the testing of 2424 hunted or culled reindeer during 2016-2018, from the infected subpopulation in the Nordfjella mountain range in Southern Norway. To identify any association between variation and CWD susceptibility, we characterized the open reading frame of the gene in 19 CWD positive reindeer and in 101 age category- and sex-matched CWD negative controls.

Variation in the prion protein gene (PRNP) sequence of wild deer in Great Britain and mainland Europe.

Susceptibility to prion diseases is largely determined by the sequence of the prion protein gene (PRNP), which encodes the prion protein (PrP). The recent emergence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Europe has highlighted the need to investigate PRNP gene diversity in European deer species, to better predict their susceptibility to CWD. Here we report a large genetic survey of six British deer species, including red (Cervus elaphus), sika (Cervus nippon), roe (Capreolus capreolus), fallow (Dama dama), muntjac (Muntiacus reevesii), and Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis), which establishes PRNP haplotype and genotype frequencies.