Abstract
The use of biotechnological techniques to introduce novel proteins into food crops (transgenic or GM crops) has motivated investigation into the properties of proteins that favor their potential to elicit allergic reactions. As part of the allergenicity assessment, bioinformatic approaches are used to compare the amino-acid sequence of candidate proteins with sequences in a database of known allergens to predict potential cross reactivity between novel food proteins and proteins to which people have become sensitized. Two criteria commonly used for these queries are searches over 80-amino-acid stretches for >35% identity, and searches for 8-amino-acid contiguous matches. We investigated the added value provided by the 8-amino-acid criterion over that provided by the >35%-identity-over-80-amino-acid criterion, by identifying allergens pairs that only met the former criterion, but not the latter criterion. We found that the allergen-sequence pairs only sharing 8-amino-acid identity, but not >35% identity over 80 amino acids, were unlikely to be cross reactive allergens. Thus, the common search for 8-amino-acid identity between novel proteins and known allergens appears to be of little additional value in assessing the potential allergenicity of novel proteins.
Highlights
The use of biotechnological techniques to introduce novel proteins into food crops has motivated investigation into the properties of proteins that favor their potential to elicit allergic reactions
If a transgenic protein is isolated from a source organism that causes allergy, it is possible that an allergenic protein from the source organism could be inadvertently transferred to the transgenic crop
We investigated the additional value of searching for 8-amino-acid sequence matches when combined with the criterion of >35% identity over 80 amino acids using the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) allergen database administered by the University of Nebraska, Lincoln http://www.allergenonline.org[15]
Summary
The use of biotechnological techniques to introduce novel proteins into food crops (transgenic or GM crops) has motivated investigation into the properties of proteins that favor their potential to elicit allergic reactions. No single property of a protein is known to predict allergenic potential For this reason, a weight-of-evidence approach to predicting allergenic risk has been adopted which considers multiple factors. A weight-of-evidence approach to predicting allergenic risk has been adopted which considers multiple factors These factors include the source of the protein, prevalence of the protein in the transgenic crop, resistance to heat and digestion, and structural similarity to known allergens [1,2,3]. If a transgenic protein is isolated from a source organism that causes allergy, it is possible that an allergenic protein from the source organism could be inadvertently transferred to the transgenic crop In this case, IgE antibody binding can be evaluated using serum from patients that are allergic to the source organism to determine if the transgenic protein is an allergen from that source. Increased titer of a protein in the intestines increases exposure and may favor develop-
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