Allergenicity of Bet v 1 in wheat pollen after exposure to drought stress as a model for climate change

Abstract

In the 21st century, climate changes and global warming have become critical concerns, in that they can affect many of the natural phenomena. It is reported that aeroallergen sensitization is influenced by changes in climate. Bet v 1 is an important birch pollen respiratory allergen and a prototype for the PR-10 protein family, which has been reported in wheat pollen. Two wheat genotypes were exposed to water deficit at the meiosis stage of anthers to investigate the effect of drought stress changes on wheat pollen Bet v 1 expression. Then, mature anthers of wheat underwent molecular experiments in the anthesis stage. Expression analysis was carried out, using Real-time PCR, on the Bet v 1 gene that encodes allergens. The results indicated the induction of Bet v 1 in both genotypes in the water deficit condition. The genotype which had been improved by breeders for tolerating drought more than the other genotype revealed more increase in Bet v 1 expression. Given the great spread of wheat, especially improved genotypes worldwide as a pivotal and crop plant and regarding wheat pollen effect on provoking allergy in humans, Bet v 1 can cause new distress in human society. Therefore, this finding is considered as a new verification of concerns of climate change on human health, which emphasizes the importance of efforts to alleviate climate changes to avoid the risk of public health.