Chronic wasting disease is a highly infectious prion disease that has spread among cervid species across North America.
Among wild white-tailed deer, prion protein-altering mutations have been detected at substantially lower frequencies in CWD-positive than in negative deer, indicating that these mutations protect deer against CWD. Management seeks to minimize the incidence of CWD among wild whitetails, while also minimizing the genetic vulnerability of the population to CWD. Here, we consider:
- The high degree to which deer are protected against chronic wasting disease by variants of the prion gene;
- The impact of the frequencies of these variants on the potential increase in genetic protection of whitetails against CWD;
- Detectable actual increases in the genetic fitness of WTD across time;
- The inferred susceptibility of deer populations across the US;
- How migration may alter genetic susceptibility to CWD.
Potential management implications of each of these factors will be discussed.
