4 ms·
So what I've read, suggests that prions do not degrade in the environment very readily. A deer with prion disease can die, decompose, then the prions be absorbe
by jonnycomputer 5y ago
So what I've read, suggests that prions do not degrade in the environment very readily. A deer with prion disease can die, decompose, then the prions be absorbed into the vegetation to be re-transmitted to other deer. Naively it would seem that there could be an ongoing accumulation of prions in the environment.
This makes me think of fire policy. Although prions are resistant to temperatures of 200C or so, wildfires often reach much higher temperatures. It would seem, again naively, that a regular regime of fire (e.g. controlled burns) might curtail any such accumulation (as well as have benefits to fire-adapted and fire-dependent plant species). I'm not sure if controlled burns are ever allowed to get that hot though.