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Blood Chimerism Confounds Genetic Relative Susceptibility Testing For Classical Scrapie In Sheep, David A. Schneider, Ahmed Tibary, Terje Taudsepp, Pranab J. Das, Katherine I. O'Rourke

Other Publications in Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease

Classical scrapie disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of sheep that is enzootic in the United States. Susceptibility of sheep to classical scrapie is linked to single nucleotide polymorphisms in the prion protein gene (PRNP), forming the basis for genetic testing strategies used by national efforts to eradicate scrapie. Such efforts are occasionally hampered by inconclusive results stemming from the detection of ‘‘complex’’ genotypes. Naturally occurring cases of ovine chimerism are thought to account for some of these instances. In the current report, 4 naturally occurring ovine chimeras are documented through cytogenetic and molecular analyses. All 4 of these sheep …