About This Project

As prevalence and spatial distribution of prion diseases such as chronic wasting disease (CWD; see lab note) increase across North America, there is growing public concern that these diseases may be transmitted to domestic species such as cattle and thus, pose an increased risk to human health. Our research will evaluate molecular mechanisms involved in transmission and replication of prion diseases, which is essential for identifying novel genes associated with CWD-infected individuals.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

White-tailed deer (WTD) are the most popular big game species in North America and provide many social, economic, and cultural values to wildlife users across the country. However, their frequent close contact with humans leads to a potential for disease spread, particularly prion diseases (e.g., CWD) that are known to cross species barriers (i.e., deer and elk) to infect livestock (e.g., mad cow disease) or humans (i.e., variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease). Other zoonotic diseases (bovine tuberculosis, Lyme disease) are indirectly transmissible from WTD to humans, and so constitute ongoing public health concerns. Thus, understanding the genetic mechanisms related to WTD disease transmission is important for reducing similar wildlife conflicts or potential health risks for humans.

What is the significance of this project?

Increasingly powerful genetic analyses facilitate development of species-specific genetic profiles, including WTD. Nevertheless, a lack of genetic information exists at the transcriptome (i.e. all coding genes in an individual) level. This lack of basic genetic information leads to difficulties addressing disease management questions focused on epidemiology or differential gene expression (i.e. what genes are turned on/off in response to a specific state) on an organismal scale. Thus, our study will lead to the development of a genetic profile for CWD-infected WTD to better understand how CWD affects animals on a genetic level. To our knowledge, only one other study has described a WTD transcriptome, thus our analyses will facilitate future in-depth genetic studies of WTD.

What are the goals of the project?

The overall goal of this research is to identify changes in gene expression resulting from CWD, providing a greater understanding of neurodegenerative mechanisms of the disease and genetic profiles that may be more susceptible to infection. Specific project objectives include describing the transcriptome in WTD and evaluating the efficacy of genetic (transcriptome) profiling for identifying CWD-infected WTD. Results of this study also may be used to evaluate the feasibility of genetic profiling as an alternative method for CWD-testing across the United States.