Characterizing the demographic history and prion protein variation to infer susceptibility to chronic wasting disease in a naive population of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).

ABSTRACT: Assessments of the adaptive potential in natural populations are essential for understanding and predicting responses to environmental stressors like climate change and infectious disease. Species face a range of stressors in human-dominated landscapes, often with contrasting effects. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; deer) are expanding in the northern part of their range following decreasing winter severity and increasing forage availability. Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease affecting deer, is likewise expanding and represents a major threat to deer and other cervids. We obtained tissue samples from free-ranging deer across their native range in Ontario, Canada, which has yet to detect CWD in wild populations. We used high-throughput sequencing to assess neu

SUBMITTER: Haworth SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8210793 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature