Exploring Genetic Solutions for Allergen-Free Crops

As many individuals are allergic to certain foods, crops are genetically altered to give anti-allergy yields.

FREMONT, CA: When individuals are sensitive to certain foods or have food allergies, their bodies are unable to correctly process specific proteins found in foods, such as wheat; it can cause health issues if such proteins enter their bloodstream. There is another category of individuals who do not necessarily have sensitivities or allergies, and who cannot wholly process these proteins.

Concerning such individuals, the aim is to find methods through which proteins can be processed more easily or eliminated, from foods that human beings consume. One method to execute this is by using conventional breeding methods or genetic-engineering techniques such as gene editing, mutagenesis, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), which is the distinctive feature of a bacterial defence system that forms the foundation for CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology.

For these purposes, researchers are also seeking to uncover natural sources of grains that do not possess these hard-to-process proteins, and they have discovered grains from specific regions that are less toxic.

Genetically Altered Anti-Allergy Crops

The following procedure to find a solution are anti-allergy biotech crops. In the year 2017, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) released a study which drafts a framework for the production of anti-allergy biotech crops. The study's focal points are peanuts, wheat, and tomatoes, which ascertains that there is a place for biotech in the resolution.

An international research team concentrated on the development of a new type of wheat with reduced amounts of gluten to offer a safe option for individuals with celiac disease. Through the method of suppressing the enzyme necessary for the production of gluten in wheat, genetically modified (GM) plants were produced with a sound of 76 per cent less gluten in their seeds. This advancement could potentially allow individuals with celiac disease to consume products made of wheat without any adverse effects.

The Interference of RNA Decreases Allergen Proteins

In addition, the report provided by the ISAAA describes the methods that scientists use in genetic engineering to reduce peanut allergies. Research removed the Ara h 2 protein, the allergen found in peanuts, from transgenic peanut seeds, by utilising RNA interference or gene silencing.

To assess the effective nature of the transgenic peanut seeds, a test was conducted for allergenicity by using the sera from people with peanut allergies. The result displayed a drop in the antibody binding capacity of transgenic seeds, when compared to the wild type.

RNAi technology was used in the production of hypo-allergenic Elsar apples by decreasing the allergen Malus domestica 1 (Mal d 1). In Japan, the anti-allergy genetically modified rice was commercially used in the year 2007, expressing modified cedar pollen allergens to trigger mucosal immune tolerance to cedar pollen allergens.