Samuel Thomas Matthew W. Keating Nicole M. Gibbs Haeyoon Chang Jamie K. Wiepz Annabel G. Austin Jay R. Schneider Christopher J. Johnson Joel A. Pedersen Christina M. Carlson 2023 <div id="abs0010" class="abstract author"><div id="abssec0010"><p id="abspara0010"><span>Prions cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases and exhibit remarkable durability, which engenders a wide array of potential exposure scenarios. In&nbsp;chronic wasting disease&nbsp;of deer, elk, moose, and reindeer and in&nbsp;scrapie&nbsp;of sheep and goats, prions are transmitted via environmental routes and the ability of plants to accumulate and subsequently transmit prions has been hypothesized, but not previously demonstrated. Here, we establish the ability of several crop and other&nbsp;</span>plant species<span>&nbsp;to take up prions via their roots and translocate them to above-ground tissues from various growth media including soils. We demonstrate that plants can accumulate prions in above-ground tissues to levels sufficient to transmit disease after oral&nbsp;ingestion&nbsp;by mice. Our results suggest plants may serve as vectors for prion transmission in the environment—a finding with implications for wildlife conservation, agriculture, and public health.</span></p></div></div> application/pdf 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108428 en Elsevier Plants as vectors for environmental prion transmission article