Not that I disagree with you, but it doesn’t make sense that they are stable in soil given that they are proteins, and those are relatively quickly decomposing in soil.
Prions are quite stable, and also they don’t need to stay in the soil for long, just enough to get reconsumed. Supposedly that’s how CWD (chronic wasting disease, not coarse woody debris), is spread among deer.
I’m an ecology major and that came up a lot in the papers I read. It largely shows up in forest ecology papers, which should have an overlap with chronic wasting disease, considering that deer populations have had this for a while and deer play a huge role in forest ecology.
First time my senior seminar class encountered it in an assigned paper, we all asked why that particular acronym.
It’s been largely a meme in that seminar class as a result.
“In 2015, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston found that plants can be a vector for prions. When researchers fed hamsters grass that grew on ground where a deer that died with chronic wasting disease (CWD) was buried, the hamsters became ill with CWD, suggesting that prions can bind to plants, which then take them up into the leaf and stem structure, where they can be eaten by herbivores, thus completing the cycle. It is thus possible that there is a progressively accumulating number of prions in the environment.”
Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 4 months ago
Not that I disagree with you, but it doesn’t make sense that they are stable in soil given that they are proteins, and those are relatively quickly decomposing in soil.
(Don’t) Ask me how I know.
notthebees@reddthat.com 3 months ago
Prions are quite stable, and also they don’t need to stay in the soil for long, just enough to get reconsumed. Supposedly that’s how CWD (chronic wasting disease, not coarse woody debris), is spread among deer.
Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
How do you know the acronym CWD -> coarse woody debris? That’s not one most people are aware of
notthebees@reddthat.com 3 months ago
I’m an ecology major and that came up a lot in the papers I read. It largely shows up in forest ecology papers, which should have an overlap with chronic wasting disease, considering that deer populations have had this for a while and deer play a huge role in forest ecology.
First time my senior seminar class encountered it in an assigned paper, we all asked why that particular acronym.
It’s been largely a meme in that seminar class as a result.
farngis_mcgiles@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
a quick look at wikipedia will show you are wrong
“In 2015, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston found that plants can be a vector for prions. When researchers fed hamsters grass that grew on ground where a deer that died with chronic wasting disease (CWD) was buried, the hamsters became ill with CWD, suggesting that prions can bind to plants, which then take them up into the leaf and stem structure, where they can be eaten by herbivores, thus completing the cycle. It is thus possible that there is a progressively accumulating number of prions in the environment.”
Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
I said I don’t see how (mechanism). I’m not wrong about proteins breaking down fast in soil
Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml 3 months ago
Proteins are also typically denatured by heat, and yet cooking does not remove prions. Prions are hard to get rid of.