Degradation of scrapie associated prion protein (PrPSc) by the gastrointestinal microbiota of cattle

Christina Scherbel, Rohtraud Pichner, Martin H. Groschup, Simone Mueller-Hellwig, Siegfried Scherer, Richard Dietrich, Erwin Maertlbauer, Manfred Gareis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

A food-borne origin of the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to cattle is commonly assumed. However, the fate of infectious prion protein during polygastric digestion remains unclear. It is unknown at present, whether infectious prion proteins, considered to be very stable, are degraded or inactivated by microbial processes in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle. In this study, rumen and colon contents from healthy cattle, taken immediately after slaughter, were used to assess the ability of these microbial consortia to degrade PrPSc. Therefore, the consortia were incubated with brain homogenates of scrapie (strain 263K) infected hamsters under physiological anaerobic conditions at 37°C. Within 20 h, PrPSc was digested both with ruminal and colonic microbiota up to immunochemically undetectable levels. Especially polymyxin resistant (mainly gram-positive) bacteria expressed PrPSc degrading activity. These data demonstrate the ability of bovine gastrointestinal microbiota to degrade PrPSc during digestion.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)695-703
Number of pages9
JournalVeterinary Research
Volume37
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006

Keywords

  • Degradation
  • Gastrointestinal tract
  • Microbiota
  • Prion
  • Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy

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