Estimating chronic wasting disease susceptibility in cervids using real-time quaking-induced conversion.

In mammals, susceptibility to prion infection is primarily modulated by the host's cellular prion protein (PrP) sequence. In the sheep scrapie model, a graded scale of susceptibility has been established both in vivo and in vitro based on PrP amino acids 136, 154 and 171, leading to global breeding programmes to reduce the prevalence of scrapie in sheep. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) resistance in cervids is often characterized as decreased prevalence and/or protracted disease progression in individuals with specific alleles; at present, no PrP allele conferring absolute resistance in cervids has been identified.