Potential Addition to Scrapie Page
Three locations on the prion protein gene have been identified as highly polymorphic and may have an effect on scrapie: codons 136, 154, and 171 (LaPlanche 1992). Codon 154 has not shown any evidence of having a high effect on scrapie susceptibility; however, codons 136 and 171 are thought to control the incubation time of the disease (Goldmann 1991; Goldmann 1990). Codon 171 has been determined to be the major genetic factor in scrapie susceptibility (Clouscard 1995; Westaway 1993).