Age structuring and spatial heterogeneity in prion protein gene (PRNP) polymorphism in white-tailed deer.

ABSTRACT: Chronic-wasting disease (CWD) is a prion-derived fatal neurodegenerative disease that has affected wild cervid populations on a global scale. Susceptibility has been linked unambiguously to several amino acid variants within the prion protein gene (PRNP). Quantifying their distribution across landscapes can provide critical information for agencies attempting to adaptively manage CWD. Here we attempt to further define management implications of PRNP polymorphism by quantifying the contemporary geographic distribution (i.e., phylogeography) of PRNP variants in hunter-harvested white-tailed deer (WTD; Odocoileus virginianus, N = 1433) distributed across Arkansas (USA), including a focal spot for CWD since detection of the disease in February 2016. Of these, PRN

SUBMITTER: Chafin TK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7575228 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature