Role of polymorphic variants of the prion protein on the resistance-susceptibility to prion infection

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Veterinaria, Departamento de Sanidad Animal, leída el 10-12-2014Depto. de Sanidad AnimalFac. de VeterinariaTRUEunpu

Spontaneous generation of infectious prion disease in transgenic mice

We generated transgenic mice expressing bovine cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) with a leucine substitution at codon 113 (113L). This protein is homologous to human protein with mutation 102L, and its genetic link with Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome has been established. This mutation in bovine PrP(C) causes a fully penetrant, lethal, spongiform encephalopathy. This genetic disease was transmitted by intracerebral inoculation of brain homogenate from ill mice expressing mutant bovine PrP to mice expressing wild-type bovine PrP, which indicated de novo generation of infectious prions. Our findings demonstrate that a single amino acid change in the PrP(C) sequence can induce spontaneous generation of an infectious prion disease that differs from all others identified in hosts expressing the same PrP(C) sequence. These observations support the view that a variety of infectious prion strains might spontaneously emerge in hosts displaying random genetic PrP(C) mutations

The emergence of classical BSE from atypical/Nor98 scrapie

Atypical/Nor98 scrapie (AS) is a prion disease of small ruminants. Currently there are no efficient measures to control this form of prion disease, and, importantly, the zoonotic potential and the risk that AS might represent for other farmed animal species remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the capacity of AS to propagate in bovine PrP transgenic mice. Unexpectedly, the transmission of AS isolates originating from 5 different European countries to bovine PrP mice resulted in the propagation of the classical BSE (c-BSE) agent. Detection of prion seeding activity in vitro by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) demonstrated that low levels of the c-BSE agent were present in the original AS isolates. C-BSE prion seeding activity was also detected in brain tissue of ovine PrP mice inoculated with limiting dilutions (endpoint titration) of ovine AS isolates. These results are consistent with the emergence and replication of c-BSE prions during the in vivo propagation of AS isolates in the natural host. These data also indicate that c-BSE prions, a known zonotic agent in humans, can emerge as a dominant prion strain during passage of AS between different species. These findings provide an unprecedented insight into the evolution of mammalian prion strain properties triggered by intra- and interspecies passage. From a public health perspective, the presence of c-BSE in AS isolates suggest that cattle exposure to small ruminant tissues and products could lead to new occurrences of c-BSE.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The emergence of classical BSE from atypical/Nor98 scrapie.

Atypical/Nor98 scrapie (AS) is a prion disease of small ruminants. Currently there are no efficient measures to control this form of prion disease, and, importantly, the zoonotic potential and the risk that AS might represent for other farmed animal species remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the capacity of AS to propagate in bovine PrP transgenic mice. Unexpectedly, the transmission of AS isolates originating from 5 different European countries to bovine PrP mice resulted in the propagation of the classical BSE (c-BSE) agent. Detection of prion seeding activity in vitro by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) demonstrated that low levels of the c-BSE agent were present in the original AS isolates. C-BSE prion seeding activity was also detected in brain tissue of ovine PrP mice inoculated with limiting dilutions (endpoint titration) of ovine AS isolates. These results are consistent with the emergence and replication of c-BSE prions during the in vivo propagation of AS isolates in the natural host. These data also indicate that c-BSE prions, a known zonotic agent in humans, can emerge as a dominant prion strain during passage of AS between different species. These findings provide an unprecedented insight into the evolution of mammalian prion strain properties triggered by intra- and interspecies passage. From a public health perspective, the presence of c-BSE in AS isolates suggest that cattle exposure to small ruminant tissues and products could lead to new occurrences of c-BSE.This work was funded by FEDER POCTEFA TRANSPRION (EFA282/13) and REDPRION (EFA148/16), by the UK Food Standards Agency Exploring permeability of the species barrier (M03043 and FS231051), by the European Union through FP7 222887 “Priority”, the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad [AGL2016-78054-R (AEI/FEDER, UE). A.M.-M. was supported by a fellowship from the INIA (FPI-SGIT-2015-02), and P.A.-C. was supported by a fellowship from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BES-2010-040922)

Allelic Interference in Prion Replication Is Modulated by the Convertibility of the Interfering PrPC and Other Host-Specific Factors

17 Pág.Early studies in transgenic mouse lines have shown that the coexpression of endogenous murine prion protein (PrPC) and transgenic PrPC from another species either inhibits or allows the propagation of prions, depending on the infecting prion strain and interacting protein species. The way whereby this phenomenon, so-called "interference," is modulated remains to be determined. In this study, different transgenic mouse lines were crossbred to produce mice coexpressing bovine and porcine PrPC, bovine and murine PrPC, or murine and porcine PrPC These animals and their respective hemizygous controls were inoculated with several prion strains from different sources (cattle, mice, and pigs) to examine the effects of the simultaneous presence of PrPC from two different species. Our results indicate interference with the infection process, manifested as extended survival times and reduced attack rates. The interference with the infectious process was reduced or absent when the potentiality interfering PrPC species was efficiently converted by the inoculated agent. However, the propagation of the endogenous murine PrPSc was favored, allowing us to speculate that host-specific factors may disturb the interference caused by the coexpression of an exogenous second PrPC IMPORTANCE Prion propagation can be interfered with by the expression of a second prion protein in the host. In the present study, we investigated prion propagation in a host expressing two different prion protein genes. Our findings indicate that the ability of the second prion protein to interfere with prion propagation is related to the transmissibility of the prion in the host expressing only the interfering prion protein. The interference detected occurs in a prion strain-dependent manner. Interestingly, a bias favoring the propagation of the murine PrP allele has been observed. These results open the door to future studies in order to determine the role of host factors other than the PrP amino acid sequence in the interference in prion propagation.This work was funded by EU Projects FOOD-CT-2006-36353 (Goat-BSE) and CT2009-222887 (Priority) and by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant AGL2016-78054-R [AEI/FEDER, UE]) and a fellowship (BES-2010-040922) to P.A.-C. A.M.-M. was supported by a fellowship from the INIA (FPI-SGIT-2015-02).Peer reviewe

Effect of Q211 and K222 PRNP polymorphic variants in the susceptibility of goats to oral infection with Goat-BSE

Background. The prion protein-encoding gene (PRNP) is one of the major determinants for scrapie occurrence in sheep and goats. However, its effect on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) transmission to goats is not clear. Methods. Goats harboring wild-type, R/Q211 or Q/K222 PRNP genotypes were orally inoculated with a goat-BSE isolate to assess their relative susceptibility to BSE infection. Goats were killed at different time points during the incubation period and after the onset of clinical signs, and their brains as well as several peripheral tissues were analyzed for the accumulation of pathological prion protein (PrPSc) and prion infectivity by mouse bioassay. Results. R/Q211 goats displayed delayed clinical signs compared with wild-type goats. Deposits of PrPSc were detected only in brain, whereas infectivity was present in peripheral tissues too. In contrast, none of the Q/K222 goats showed any evidence of clinical prion disease. No PrPSc accumulation was observed in their brains or peripheral tissues, but very low infectivity was detected in some tissues very long after inoculation (44–45 months). Conclusions. These results demonstrate that transmission of goat BSE is genotype dependent, and they highlight the pivotal protective effect of the K222 PRNP variant in the oral susceptibility of goats to BSE. <br/

Optimization of RT-QuIC for detection of seeding activity in preclinical blood samples from prion-infected sheep.

Contrasting the knowledge about prion diseases or TSEs in sheep, only a very limited number of strain typing studies are available in goats. Two cases deriv- ing from the zoonotic bovine BSE epidemic were however detected in goats. During 2004–2012, over 70 TSE goat brain samples were collected from seven European countries and evaluated for TSE type/strain variation. A selection of these materials was chosen for in-depth analysis based on various criteria: tissue quality, genotype, broad geographical distribution, potential type variation...

Contribución a la conservación y revitalización de la Cocina Tradicional de Costa Rica

Recopilación de algunas historias y leyendas del pueblo de San Mateo. En las historias se reflejan momentos significativos en el ámbito personal y grupal, así como elementos mágicos que forman parte de las historias y leyendas locales de un pueblo que conserva su historia, y se identifica con las carretas, los bueyes, las montas de toros, los bailes en el parque, las pozas de ríos cristalinos, la música de marimba y las frutas, entre las que sobresalen los marañones.El Centro Diurno de Atención Integral para la Persona Adulta Mayor de San MateoUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Salud::Facultad de Medicina::Escuela de Nutrició

Memoria del III Coloquio Internacional sobre Diversidad Cultural y Estudios Regionales

Del 05 al 07 de noviembre de 2014 se llevó a cabo en la Sede de Occidente de la Universidad de Costa Rica, el III Coloquio Internacional sobre Diversidad Cultural y Estudios Regionales, dicado a Julieta Dobles Izaguirre, Premio Nacional de Cultura Magón, 2013. Este III Coloquio Internacional fue organizado por el Centro de Investigaciones sobre Diversidad Cultural y Estudios Regionales (CIDICER), primer Centro de Investigaciones de una Sede Regional de la Universidad de Costa Rica. Se contó con personas investigacdoras nacionales e internacionales quienes presentaron sobre temas relacionados con la diversidad cultural y los estudios regionales.Universidad de Costa Rica/[836-B4-702]/UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Sedes Regionales::Sede de Occidente::Recinto San Ramón::Centro de Investigaciones sobre Diversidad Cultural y Estudios Regionales (CIDICER

Jardins per a la salut

Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia. Assignatura: Botànica farmacèutica. Curs: 2014-2015. Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són el recull de les fitxes botàniques de 128 espècies presents en el Jardí Ferran Soldevila de l’Edifici Històric de la UB. Els treballs han estat realitzats manera individual per part dels estudiants dels grups M-3 i T-1 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica durant els mesos de febrer a maig del curs 2014-15 com a resultat final del Projecte d’Innovació Docent «Jardins per a la salut: aprenentatge servei a Botànica farmacèutica» (codi 2014PID-UB/054). Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pels professors de l’assignatura. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica. També s’ha pretès motivar els estudiants a través del retorn de part del seu esforç a la societat a través d’una experiència d’Aprenentatge-Servei, deixant disponible finalment el treball dels estudiants per a poder ser consultable a través d’una Web pública amb la possibilitat de poder-ho fer in-situ en el propi jardí mitjançant codis QR amb un smartphone