§ Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether all strains of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) are faithfully propagated between different species of genotypes of the same species or that such passage can result in modifications to a TSE. [HL1775]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Hayman)We know from experiments that certain biological properties of TSE 131WA agents can change on repeated passage in mice. TSE propagation between and within different species is affected by at least one gene which codes for the prion protein. Other factors which have not yet been identified may also be involved.