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Genetically Modified α-Amylase Inhibitor Peas Are Not Specifically Allergenic in Mice
Summary
Weevils can devastate food legumes in developing countries, but genetically modified peas (Pisum sativum), chickpeas and cowpeas expressing the gene for alpha-amylase inhibitor-1 (αAI) from the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) are completely protected from weevil destruction. αAI is seed-specific, accumulated at high levels and undergoes post-translational modification as it traverses the seed endomembrane system. This modification was thought to be responsible for the reported allergenicity in mice of the transgenic pea but not the bean. Here, we observed that transgenic αAI peas, chickpeas and cowpeas as well as non-transgenic beans were all allergenic in BALB/c mice. Even consuming non-transgenic peas lacking αAI led to an anti-αAI response due to a cross-reactive response to pea lectin. Our data demonstrate that αAI transgenic peas are not more allergenic than beans or non-transgenic peas in mice. This study illustrates the importance of repeat experiments in independent laboratories and the potential for unexpected cross-reactive allergic responses upon consumption of plant products in mice.
Citation: Lee R-Y, Reiner D, Dekan G, Moore AE, Higgins TJV, et al. (2013) Genetically Modified α-Amylase Inhibitor Peas Are Not Specifically Allergenic in Mice. PLoS ONE 8(1): e52972. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052972
Editor: Muriel Moser, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Received: September 14, 2012; Accepted: November 23, 2012; Published: January 9, 2013
Copyright: © 2013 Lee et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: Funding for this research was provided the GMSAFOOD project (grant nu,ber 211820), through the 7th Framework grant, administered by the European Commission. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.@ PLOS ONE: Genetically Modified α-Amylase Inhibitor Peas Are Not Specifically Allergenic in Mice:
2013-02-19 16:45:46
Source: http://gmopundit.blogspot.com/2013/02/genetically-modified-amylase-inhibitor.html
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