Abstract
Prions are proteinaceous infectious agents that can be transmitted through various components of the environment, including soil particles. We found that earthworms exposed to prion-contaminated soil can bind, retain, and excrete prions, which remain highly infectious. Our results suggest that earthworms potentially contribute to prion disease spread in the environment.
Highlights
Prions are proteinaceous infectious agents that can be transmitted through various components of the environment, including soil particles
We examined whether earthworms contribute to environmental spread of infectious prions
The Study To investigate whether earthworms can act as carriers of infectious prions, we exposed groups of worms (Eisenia fetida) to soil previously mixed with brain homogenate (BH) from clinically diseased 263K Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) (Harlan Envigo, https://www.envigo.com)
Summary
Prions are proteinaceous infectious agents that can be transmitted through various components of the environment, including soil particles. The Study To investigate whether earthworms can act as carriers of infectious prions, we exposed groups of worms (Eisenia fetida) to soil previously mixed with brain homogenate (BH) from clinically diseased 263K Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) (Harlan Envigo, https://www.envigo.com). We assessed whether prions bind to worms or worm-associated soil by using protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) technology [5,6], which can detect prions down to the level of Author affiliations: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
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