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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Plant Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #138642
Title: GENETIC MODIFICATION REMOVES AN IMMUNODOMINAT ALLERGEN FROM SOYBEAN

Author
item Herman, Eliot
item HELM, R - UNIV OF ARKANSAS
item JUNG, R - PIONEER HIBRED
item KINNEY, A - DUPONT EXP. STATION

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/11/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Increasing use of soybean products in processed foods poses a potential threat to soybean-sensitive food-allergic individuals and reported incidents of soybean allergies, including suspected cases of anaphylaxis, are on the rise. In vitro assays on soybean seed proteins with sera from soybean-sensitive individuals have shown that, in addition to abundant storage proteins, a few minor seed proteins account for most IgE-binding, implicating these proteins in eliciting allergic reactions. One such protein, Gly m Bd 30K, a member of the papain superfamily of cysteine proteases, also referred to as P34, has been identified as a major (immunodominant) soybean allergen. We utilized transgene-induced gene silencing to prevent the accumulation of this allergen in seed. The resulting P34/Gly m Bd 30 K-suppressed plants (and their seeds) lacked any obvious compositional, developmental, or structural phenotypic differences. Together these data provide evidence for substantial equivalence of composition of transgenic and non-transgenic seed. Sera from soy-sensitive individuals showed significantly less reactivity towards protein extracts of P34/Gly m Bd 30 K-suppressed seeds when compared with reactivity toward extracts from commodity soybean lines. Thus, the production of a P34/Gly m Bd 30 K-suppressed line eliminates one of the primary allergens present in soybean seeds.