Molecular Basis of the Interactions of Prion Proteins with Aquatic and Terrestrial Humic Substances

摘要

Transmissible spongiform encephalopaties (TSE) are a class of neurovegetative disorders of animals and human beings that are believed to be transmitted by proteinaceous agents called prions. Prion proteins exist in two forms: a cellular non infective form which is naturally encoded in the DNA and a protease resistant infective form which possesses a potential for auto-replication and accumulates in the brain and spinal cord of TSE infected animals and human beings. Before the risks connected to the past bovine spongiform encephalopaty (BSE) were fully recognized, prions were discharged to the environment from rendering plants, abattoirs and landfills: this has now been stopped, but low amounts of prions can still be occasionally dispersed through blood and even probably feces by infected animals. The horizontal transmissibility of the chronic wasting desease (CWD), a TSE form that affects wild cervids, which is now spreading across North America, and the fact that contaminated pastures may serve as a source of infectivity has recently been proved by Belay et al..