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Journal of Virology, July 2007, p. 7306-7309, Vol. 81, No. 13
0022-538X/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.02880-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy,1 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Regioni Lazio e Toscana, Rome, Italy2
Received 29 December 2006/ Accepted 4 April 2007
The susceptibility of sheep to classical scrapie and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is mainly influenced by prion protein (PrP) polymorphisms A136V, R154H, and Q171R, with the ARR allele associated with significantly decreased susceptibility. Here we report the protective effect of the amino acid substitution M137T, I142K, or N176K on the ARQ allele in sheep experimentally challenged with either scrapie or BSE. Such observations suggest the existence of additional PrP alleles that significantly decrease the susceptibility of sheep to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which may have important implications for disease eradication strategies.
Published ahead of print on 18 April 2007.
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