Possibilities of interlinking the genomic data and allergenic potential of apples

Abstract

Apple allergy belongs to the most prevalent fruit allergies which in North and Central Europe is mainly attributed to cross-reaction between Bet v 1 allergen from birch pollen and Mal d 1 major apple allergen.  For a long time, patients observed symptoms of unequal severity after consumption of different apple cultivars. This led scientific community to search for the basis of the cultivar-specific allergenicity. According to several studies, the amount of Mal d 1 allergen plays an important role. Currently, notable attention is mainly concentrated on genetic variability as the primary source of different allergenic potential. Mal d 1 gene family is a large family of gene isoforms and their variants differing in the primary sequence. These sequence alternations may cause changes in protein structure and potentially affect the binding capacity to IgE and thus the allergenic potential. Among many methods available to analyze genetic variability, restriction fragment length polymorphism is simple technique suitable to analyze variability of Mal d 1 allergen. This paper aims to provide a brief overview of a possible approach of interlinking genomic data (e.g. as by RFLP profiles) and clinically proven apple allergenicity.