title: Pru du 2S albumin or Pru du vicilin?
abstract: A short partial sequence of 28 amino acids is all the information we have so far about the putative allergen 2S albumin from almond. The aim of this work was to analyze this information using mainly bioinformatics tools, in order to verify its rightness. Based on the results reported in the paper describing this allergen from almond, we analyzed the original data of amino acids sequencing through available software. The degree of homology of the almond 12kDa protein with any other known 2S albumin appears to be much lower than the one reported in the paper that firstly described it. In a publicly available cDNA library we discovered an expressed sequence tag which translation generates a protein that perfectly matches both of the sequencing outputs described in the same paper. A further analysis indicated that the latter protein seems to belong to the vicilin superfamily rather than to the prolamin one. The fact that also vicilins are seed storage proteins known to be highly allergenic would explain the IgE reactivity originally observed. Based on our observations we suggest that the IgE reactive 12kDa protein from almond currently known as Pru du 2S albumin is in reality the cleaved N-terminal region of a 7S vicilin like protein.
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco & Drug and Food Biotechnology (DFB) Center, Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", largo Donegani 2, 28100 Novara, Italy. Electronic address: garino@unipmn.it.
authors: Cristiano
authors: C
authors: Garino
authors: Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari (ISPA) - CNR, via Prov.le Lecce - Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. Electronic address: angelo.depaolis@ispa.cnr.it.
authors: Angelo
authors: A
authors: De Paolis
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco & Drug and Food Biotechnology (DFB) Center, Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", largo Donegani 2, 28100 Novara, Italy. Electronic address: coisson@unipmn.it.
authors: Jean Daniel
authors: JD
authors: Coïsson
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco & Drug and Food Biotechnology (DFB) Center, Università del Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", largo Donegani 2, 28100 Novara, Italy. Electronic address: arlorio@unipmn.it.
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Arlorio
mesh_terms: D055516:2S Albumins, Plant / Q000737:chemistry*; D000485:Allergens / Q000737:chemistry; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D000068181:Prunus dulcis / Q000737:chemistry*; D055314:Seed Storage Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D055516:2S Albumins, Plant; D000485:Allergens; D055314:Seed Storage Proteins; C015575:vicilin protein, plant
keywords: Almond–2S albumin–vicilin