Prion protein interaction with soil humic substances: environmental implications

Chronic Wasting Disease: State of the Science

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease affecting cervid species, both free-ranging and captive populations. As the geographic range continues to expand and disease prevalence continues to increase, CWD will have an impact on cervid populations, local economies, and ecosystem health. Mitigation of this "wicked" disease will require input from many different stakeholders including hunters, landowners, research biologists, wildlife managers, and others, working together. The NC1209 (North American interdisciplinary chronic wasting disease research consortium) is composed of scientists from different disciplines involved with investigating and managing CWD. Leveraging this broad breadth of expertise, the Consortium has created a state-of-the-science review of five key aspects of CWD, including current diagnostic capabilities for detecting prions, requirements for validating these diagnostics, the role of environmental transmission in CWD dynamics, and potential zoonotic risks associated with CWD. The goal of this review is to increase stakeholders', managers', and decision-makers' understanding of this disease informed by current scientific knowledge.

Movement of Chronic Wasting Disease Prions in Prairie, Boreal and Alpine Soils

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy negatively impacting cervids on three continents. Soil can serve as a reservoir for horizontal transmission of CWD by interaction with the infectious prion protein (PrPCWD) shed by diseased individuals and from infected carcasses. We investigated the pathways for PrPCWD migration in soil profiles using lab-scale soil columns, comparing PrPCWD migration through pure soil minerals (quartz, illite and montmorillonite), and diverse soils from boreal (Luvisol, Brunisol) and prairie (Chernozem) regions. We analyzed the leachate of the soil columns by immunoblot and protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) and detected PrP in the leachates of columns composed of quartz, illite, Luvisol and Brunisol. Animal bioassay confirmed the presence of CWD infectivity in the leachates from quartz, illite and Luvisol columns. Leachates from columns with montmorillonite and prairie Chernozems did not contain PrP detectable by immunoblotting or PMCA; bioassay confirmed that the Chernozemic leachate was not infectious. Analysis of the solid phase of the columns confirmed the migration of PrP to lower layers in the illite column, while the strongest signal in the montmorillonite column remained close to the surface. Montmorillonite, the prevalent clay mineral in prairie soils, has the strongest prion binding ability; by contrast, illite, the main clay mineral in northern boreal and tundra soils, does not bind prions significantly. This suggests that in soils of North American CWD-endemic regions (Chernozems), PrPCWD would remain on the soil surface due to avid binding to montmorillonite. In boreal Luvisols and mountain Brunisols, prions that pass through the leaf litter will continue to move through the soil mineral horizon, becoming less bioavailable. In light-textured soils where quartz is a dominant mineral, the majority of the infectious prions will move through the soil profile. Local soil properties may consequently determine the efficiency of environmental transmission of CWD.

Transmission, Strain Diversity, and Zoonotic Potential of Chronic Wasting Disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease affecting several species of captive and free-ranging cervids. In the past few decades, CWD has been spreading uncontrollably, mostly in North America, resulting in a high increase of CWD incidence but also a substantially higher number of geographical regions affected. The massive increase in CWD poses risks at several levels, including contamination of the environment, transmission to animals cohabiting with cervids, and more importantly, a putative transmission to humans. In this review, I will describe the mechanisms and routes responsible for the efficient transmission of CWD, the strain diversity of natural CWD, its spillover and zoonotic potential and strategies to minimize the CWD threat.

Uptake, Retention, and Excretion of Infectious Prions by Experimentally Exposed Earthworms

Prions are proteinaceous infectious agents that can be transmitted through various components of the environment, including soil particles. We found that earthworms exposed to prion-contaminated soil can bind, retain, and excrete prions, which remain highly infectious. Our results suggest that earthworms potentially contribute to prion disease spread in the environment.

Inhibition of Class A β-Lactamase (TEM-1) by Narrow Fractions of Humic Substances

Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat. The use of biologically active natural products alone or in combination with the clinically proven antimicrobial agents might be a useful strategy to fight the resistance. The scientific hypotheses of this study were twofold: (1) the natural humic substances rich in dicarboxyl, phenolic, heteroaryl, and other fragments might possess inhibitory activity against β-lactamases, and (2) this inhibitory activity might be linked to the molecular composition of the humic ensemble. To test these hypotheses, we used humic substances (HS) from different sources (coal, peat, and soil) and of different fractional compositions (humic acids, hymatomelanic acids, and narrow fractions from solid-phase extraction) for inhibiting serine β-lactamase TEM-1. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR MS) was used to characterize the molecular composition of all humic materials used in this study. The kinetic assay with chromogenic substrate CENTA was used for assessment of inhibitory activity. The inhibition data have shown that among all humic materials tested, a distinct activity was observed within apolar fractions of hymatomelanic acid isolated from lignite. The decrease in the hydrolysis rate in the presence of most active fractions was 42% (with sulbactam-87%). Of particular importance is that these very fractions caused a synergistic effect (2-fold) for the combinations with sulbactam. Linking the observed inhibition effects to molecular composition revealed the preferential contribution of low-oxidized aromatic and acyclic components such as flavonoid-, lignin, and terpenoid-like molecules. The binding of single low-molecular-weight components to the cryptic allosteric site along with supramolecular interactions of humic aggregates with the protein surface could be considered as a major contributor to the observed inhibition. We believe that fine fractionation of hydrophobic humic materials along with molecular modeling studies on the interaction between humic molecules and β-lactamases might contribute to the development of novel β-lactamase inhibitors of humic nature.

Exploring the structure and dynamics of proteins in soil organic matter

Alongside inorganic materials, water, and air, soil organic matter (SOM) is one of the major components of soil and has tremendous influence on the environment given its vital role in the carbon cycle. Many soil dwelling organisms like plants, fungi and bacteria excrete proteins, whose interaction with SOM is poorly understood on an atomistic level. In this study, molecular dynamics simulations were used to investigate selected proteins in soil models of different complexity from simple co-solvent molecules to Leonardite humic acids (LHA). We analyzed the proteins in terms of their structural stability, the nature and strength of the interactions with their surroundings, as well as their aggregation behavior. Upon insertion of proteins in complex SOM models, their structural stability decreased, although no unfolding or disruption of secondary structure was observed. The interactions of proteins and SOM were primarily governed by electrostatic forces, often in form of hydrogen bonds. However, also weaker van der Waals forces made a significant contribution to the total interaction energies. Moreover, we showed that even though the molecular structure and size of SOM molecules varied, the functional groups of SOM ordered around the protein in a similar pattern. Finally, the number of aggregates formed by proteins and SOM molecules was shown to be primarily proportional to the size of the latter. Strikingly, for varying protein net charges no changes in the formation of aggregates with the strongly negatively charged LHA were observed.

Strength of Flocs Formed by the Complexation of Lysozyme with Leonardite Humic Acid

Aggregation and aggregates properties of natural organic and nanosized macromolecules such as humic substances and proteins are crucial to explore so-called colloid-mediated transport and the fate of substances in soil and water environments. Therefore, the aggregation and dispersion, charging, and floc strength of lysozyme (LSZ)–leonardite humic acid (LHA) flocs were experimentally investigated. The experiments were performed in different salt concentrations and LSZ to LHA mass ratios as a function of pH. We obtained the stronger flocs at pH 4.4, where the isoelectric point (IEP) of the complex with the mass ratio 2.5 was confirmed. Thus, the aggregation of LSZ–LHA flocs is mainly caused by charge neutralization. We obtained the floc strength of 4.7 nN around IEP at low salt concentration of 3 mM, which was stronger than 2.8 nN in high salt concentration of 50 mM. The effect of salt concentration can be rationalized by charge-patch attraction at low salt concentration. With increasing mass ratio, the IEP shifted to higher pH. This is due to the increase in positive charge from LSZ in the mixture. The effect of the LSZ to LHA mass ratio on the maximum strength was weak in the range studied.

Dynamic Intermolecular Interactions Control Adsorption from Mixtures of Natural Organic Matter and Protein onto Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

Engineered nanoparticles (NPs) will obtain macromolecular coatings in environmental systems, changing their subsequent interactions. The matrix complexity inherent in natural waters and wastewaters greatly complicates prediction of the corona formation. Here, we investigate corona formation on titanium dioxide (TiO₂) NPs from mixtures of natural organic matter (NOM) and a protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), to thoroughly probe the role of mixture interactions in the adsorption process. Fundamentally different coronas were observed under different NP exposure conditions and time scales. In mixtures of NOM and protein, the corona composition was kinetically determined, and the species initially coadsorbed but were ultimately limited to monolayers. On the contrary, sequential exposure of the NPs to pure solutions of NOM and protein resulted in extensive multilayer formation. The intermolecular complexation between NOM and BSA in solution and at the NP surface was the key mechanism controlling these distinctive adsorption behaviors, as determined by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and in situ attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Overall, this study demonstrates that dynamic intermolecular interactions and the history of the NP surface must be considered together to predict corona formation on NPs in complex environmental media.

Clay content and pH: soil characteristic associations with the persistent presence of chronic wasting disease in northern Illinois

Environmental reservoirs are important to infectious disease transmission and persistence, but empirical analyses are relatively few. The natural environment is a reservoir for prions that cause chronic wasting disease (CWD) and influences the risk of transmission to susceptible cervids. Soil is one environmental component demonstrated to affect prion infectivity and persistence. Here we provide the first landscape predictive model for CWD based solely on soil characteristics. We built a boosted regression tree model to predict the probability of the persistent presence of CWD in a region of northern Illinois using CWD surveillance in deer and soils data. We evaluated the outcome for possible pathways by which soil characteristics may increase the probability of CWD transmission via environmental contamination. Soil clay content and pH were the most important predictive soil characteristics of the persistent presence of CWD. The results suggest that exposure to prions in the environment is greater where percent clay is less than 18% and soil pH is greater than 6.6. These characteristics could alter availability of prions immobilized in soil and contribute to the environmental risk factors involved in the epidemiological complexity of CWD infection in natural populations of white-tailed deer.

The mechanisms of humic substances self-assembly with biological molecules: The case study of the prion protein

Humic substances (HS) are the largest constituent of soil organic matter and are considered as a key component of the terrestrial ecosystem. HS may facilitate the transport of organic and inorganic molecules, as well as the sorption interactions with environmentally relevant proteins such as prions. Prions enter the environment through shedding from live hosts, facilitating a sustained incidence of animal prion diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease and scrapie in cervid and ovine populations, respectively. Changes in prion structure upon environmental exposure may be significant as they can affect prion infectivity and disease pathology. Despite its relevance, the mechanisms of prion interaction with HS are still not completely understood. The goal of this work is to advance a structural-level picture of the encapsulation of recombinant, non-infectious, prion protein (PrP) into different natural HS. We observed that PrP precipitation upon addition of HS is mainly driven by a mechanism of "salting-out" whereby PrP molecules are rapidly removed from the solution and aggregate in insoluble adducts with humic molecules. Importantly, this process does not alter the protein folding since insoluble PrP retains its α-helical content when in complex with HS. The observed ability of HS to promote PrP insolubilization without altering its secondary structure may have potential relevance in the context of "prion ecology". These results suggest that soil organic matter interacts with prions possibly without altering the protein structures. This may facilitate prions preservation from biotic and abiotic degradation leading to their accumulation in the environment.

Characterization of prion protein function by focal neurite stimulation

The cellular prion protein (PrP^C), encoded by the PRNP gene, is a ubiquitous glycoprotein, which is highly expressed in the brain. This protein, mainly known for its role in neurodegenerative diseases, is involved in several physiological processes including neurite outgrowth. By using a novel focal stimulation technique, we explored the potential function of PrP^C, in its soluble form, as a signaling molecule. Thus, soluble recombinant prion proteins (recPrP) encapsulated in micro-vesicles were released by photolysis near the hippocampal growth cones. Local stimulation of wild-type growth cones with full-length recPrP induced neurite outgrowth and rapid growth cone turning towards the source. This effect was shown to be concentration dependent. Notably, PrP^C-knockout growth cones were insensitive to recPrP stimulation, but this property was rescued in PrP-knockout growth cones expressing GFP-PrP. Taken together, our findings indicate that recPrP functions as a signaling molecule, and that its homophilic interaction with membrane-anchored PrP^C might promote neurite outgrowth and facilitate growth cone guidance.

Defining and Assessing Analytical Performance Criteria for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy-Detecting Amyloid Seeding Assays

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are infectious, fatal neurodegenerative diseases that affect production animal health, and thus human food safety. Enhanced TSE detection methods mimic the conjectured basis for prion replication, in vitro; biological matrices can be tested for prion activity via their ability to convert recombinant cellular prion protein (PrP) into amyloid fibrils; fluorescent spectra changes of amyloid-binding fluorophores in the reaction vessel detect fibril formation. In vitro PrP conversion techniques have high analytical sensitivity for prions, comparable with that of bioassays, yet no such protocol has gained regulatory approval for use in animal TSE surveillance programs. This study describes a timed in vitro PrP conversion protocol with accurate, well-defined analytical criteria based on probability density and mass functions of TSE(+) and TSE(-) associated thioflavin T signal times, a new approach within this field. The prion detection model used is elk chronic wasting disease (CWD) in brain tissues. The protocol and analytical criteria proved as sensitive for elk CWD as two bioassay models, and upward of approximately 1.2 log10 more sensitive than the most sensitive TSE rapid test we assessed. Furthermore, we substantiate that timing in vitro PrP conversion may be used to titrate TSE infectivity, and, as a result, provide a comprehensive extrapolation of analytical sensitivity differences between bioassay, TSE rapid tests, and in vitro PrP conversion for elk CWD.

Abiotic reversible self-assembly of fulvic and humic acid aggregates in low electrolytic conductivity solutions by dynamic light scattering and zeta potential investigation

The aggregation of humic substances and their interaction with filtration media (membranes, soils) has implications for our understanding of membrane fouling during water treatment, the facilitated transport of contaminants, and the transport of organic matter through the microbial loop. To investigate the aggregation of fulvic and humic acids in low electrolytic conductivity solutions, laboratory studies of simulated environmental water samples as well as actual environmental water samples were examined. Intensity-, volume-, and number-based particle size distributions (PSDs) were obtained by dynamic light scattering. Aggregates were categorized into three ranges, i.e., 10-100 nm, 100-1000 nm, and >1 μm. Individual biomacromolecules and the aggregates between 10 nm and 1 μm were presumed to be precursors for the formation of a large 5-μm-sized-particle. The self-assembly of the large-in-volume, few-in-number, 5-μm-sized particle was observed in real-time and occurred in unfiltered samples and in samples filtered (0.45 μm) at a nominal size one order of magnitude smaller. The supramicrometer-sized particle formed, dissipated, and spontaneously re-formed over turbulent/quiescent cycles in the presence of sodium azide indicating reversible abiotic self-assembly. Zeta potential analyses demonstrated that colloidal stability increased as concentration increased. DLS studies of the environmental water samples were comparable to those of the simulated laboratory samples. The operational range of the instrumentation used in these experiments was 0.6 nm-6 μm; therefore, aggregates larger than 6 μm may exist in these solutions.