Thanks for the compliment! I worked hard and loved every minute of it. I think I would have been happy in a life of research... learning that a little late:)
One of the leading researchers in this area is Frank O. Bastion...here's an interview (date?) in which he discusses the evolution of his thinking and his work. And here's an article that describes the use of CryoEM, in relation to prion research but not spiroplasmas.
A fascinating line of research, isn't i? I appreciate your reading, and your feedback!
I am actually going into research, although I started college a bit late. I intend to study Alzheimer's or something related to mad cow disease. I, like you am a research geek, and I read a lot of articles about mad cow disease, other diseases, genetic topics, and even articles about space, the universe, and tweaks to Einstein's relativity, such as bringing ether back into the picture.
I first heard about the Spiroplasma theory of mad cow in a documentary, and became interested in it. Your article here article showed up in a Google search on the topic of Spiroplasma in 2019. In fact, your article here is one of the reasons I joined Hive in the first place, so that I could connect with open minded amateur science geeks. I joined in 2020 but haven't been very active and ended up writing mostly about politics because of all the political garbage of the time. I hope to start writing more about science soon.
Politics is a swamp and can make you many more enemies than friends. Usually, no one is persuaded by what you say. They either clap in agreement or jeer in disdain. For me, there is not point.
Science, history, literature, movies--these are fun to write about and are not likely to alienate anyone.
Glad you've decided to return.
From what I have read about prions, there really is reason to doubt whether they cause BSE and scrapie. The reason is that prions are not the only misfolded proteins with the ability to cause other proteins to misfold, and yet are the only proteins that seem to be able to transmit disease the way they do. I have read about misfolded proteins that have been proven to transmit disease, but they all seem to only be able to transmit if there is an underlying condition. None of the scientists who think prions cause the disease have an explanation for why prions are the only misfolded protein that can infect healthy organisms.
Mad cow disease and Scrapie can infect individuals that are healthy however! It turns out that healthy organisms and cells have machinery that break down misfolded proteins faster than they can form, and developing a disease caused by misfolded proteins requires something to be wrong with the machinery in order for the disease to develop. Scientists skeptical of prions think the BSE/scrapie agent, whether it be Spiroplasma, a virus, or something else, not only causes prions to form, but also disrupts the machinery that degrades misfolded proteins. The result is the prion can accumulate faster than it can be removed. As of today, prion theory does not have an agreed upon mechanism for the different strains of disease that exist either, while the alternative theories do.
The source below describes what I talked about, how prions are the only proteins that can transmit disease to healthy individuals, which if you ask me, is reason to be skeptical.
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2008.0073