Impact of gene suppression and food processing on the IgE-reactivity and allergenicity of plant derived foods

• Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Thomas Henle; Professor Dr. Stefan Vieths
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Lebensmittelchemie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2007 bis 2011
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 30717861

Major objectives of this sub-project are to select tomato allergens as targets for the design of hypoallergenic tomato fruits by simultaneous silencing, to asses the IgE-inducing capacity in mice and allergenic potency of transgenic tomato and carrot plants, and to investigate the impact of protein glycation on allergenicity. Allergenic potency will be assessed by IgE-binding and mediator release assays with transgenic plants, with or without exposure to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Since several target proteins are involved in plant defence the sub-project aims at investigating the potential up regulation of compensatory allergenic pathogen-related proteins. In cases in which essential cellular functions are targeted by the RNAi approach, homologous proteins (i.e. profilin) with reduced allergenic potency will be selected or generated to substitute the biological function. Furthermore, the impact of modifications occurring during food processing on allergenic potency, T-cell reactivity, and IgE inducing capacity in mice will be investigated by testing selected allergens and allergen peptides subjected to glycation reactions. Moreover, individual glycation compounds will be synthesized for subsequent covalent coupling to selected target proteins and products analysed using the same methodology.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen
• Beteiligte Person: Dr. Stephan Scheurer