title: Food safety assessment of an antifungal protein from Moringa oleifera seeds in an agricultural biotechnology perspective.
abstract: Mo-CBP3 is an antifungal protein produced by Moringa oleifera which has been investigated as potential candidate for developing transgenic crops. Before the use of novel proteins, food safety tests must be conducted. This work represents an early food safety assessment of Mo-CBP3, using the two-tiered approach proposed by ILSI. The history of safe use, mode of action and results for amino acid sequence homology using the full-length and short contiguous amino acids sequences indicate low risk associated to this protein. Mo-CBP3 isoforms presented a reasonable number of alignments (>35% identity) with allergens in a window of 80 amino acids. This protein was resistant to pepsin degradation up to 2 h, but it was susceptible to digestion using pancreatin. Many positive attributes were presented for Mo-CBP3. However, this protein showed high sequence homology with allergens and resistance to pepsin digestion that indicates that further hypothesis-based testing on its potential allergenicity must be done. Additionally, animal toxicity evaluations (e.g. acute and repeated dose oral exposure assays) must be performed to meet the mandatory requirements of several regulatory agencies. Finally, the approach adopted here exemplified the importance of performing an early risk assessment of candidate proteins for use in plant transformation programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Clidia E M
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. Electronic address: daviffarias@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Davi F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Farias
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana F U
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: José T A
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mirella L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thalles B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Grangeiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: José E C
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Freire
authors.affiliation: State University of Ceará, Campus do Itaperi, 60740-903, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Viana
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, 60440-900, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. Electronic address: imvasco@ufc.br.
authors.forename: Ilka M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000821:Animal Feed / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D052179:Antigens, Plant / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001938:Brazil; D002686:Chitin / Q000378:metabolism; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004063:Digestion; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D030841:Food, Genetically Modified / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D003904:Mitosporic Fungi / Q000254:growth & development; D008958:Models, Molecular; D029588:Moringa oleifera / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological / Q000379:methods; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D052179:Antigens, Plant; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D008024:Ligands; D010940:Plant Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D002686:Chitin
keywords: Allergen; Chitin-binding protein; Mo-CBP(3); Risk assessment; Transgenic crops; Weight of evidence