NR AQUB
AU Bastian,F.O.; Dash,S.; Garry,R.F.
TI Linking chronic wasting disease to scrapie by comparison of Spiroplasma mirum ribosomal DNA sequences
QU Experimental and Molecular Pathology 2004 Aug; 77(1): 49-56
PT journal article
AB Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) are fatal neurodegenerative diseases of man and animals and are transmitted by a filterable pathogen whose identity is currently unresolved. Our data indicates that Spiroplasma, a wall-less bacterium, is involved in the pathogenesis of TSE. We searched for Spiroplasma ribosomal gene sequences in 10 scrapie-infected sheep brains and 10 normal sheep brains, 7 cervid samples infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD), and 7 normal cervid brains. DNA was extracted from these tissue samples and amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers specific for Spiroplasma-specific 16S rDNA. Specificity of the amplicon was determined by Southern blotting and DNA sequence analyses. Spiroplasma 16S rDNA was found in 8 of 10 scrapie-infected sheep brains and 6 of 7 CWD-infected tissue samples. All normal animal brain samples were negative. Spiroplasma 16S rDNA was also found in two human Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseased (CJD) brains but not in two age-matched normal human brains. DNA sequence analyses of the amplified PCR products from human and animal TSE cases revealed greater than 99% nucleotide sequence homology with Spiroplasma mirum. The presence of Spiroplasma DNA in TSE-infected tissues supports our hypothesis that Spiroplasma may be involved in the pathogenesis of these diseases.
MH Animals; Base Sequence; Brain/microbiology/pathology; Comparative Study; Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome/genetics/microbiology/pathology; DNA Primers/chemistry; DNA Probes/chemistry; *DNA, Ribosomal/analysis; Deer; Human; Molecular Sequence Data; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Scrapie/genetics/*microbiology/pathology; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Sheep; Spiroplasma/genetics/*pathogenicity; Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.; Wasting Disease, Chronic/genetics/*microbiology/pathology
AD Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA. fbastian@tulane.edu
SP englisch
PO USA