Allergenicity study of EGFP-transgenic chicken meat by serological and 2D-DIGE analysis

Genetically modified (GM) foods must be tested for safety, including by allergenicity tests to ensure that they do not contain new allergens or higher concentrations of known allergens than the same non-GM foods. In this study experimentally developed EGFP-transgenic chickens were used and evaluated the allergenicity of meat from the chicken based on a serological and two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) analysis. For the serological analysis, a Western blotting with allergen-specific antibodies and a proteomic analysis of chicken meat allergens with patients' sera, a so-called allergenome analysis, were used. The allergenome analysis allowed us to identify five IgE-binding proteins in chicken meat, including a known allergen, chicken serum albumin, and no qualitative difference in their expressions between the GM and non-GM chicken meat was found. Results of the 2D-DIGE analysis showed that none of the IgE-binding proteins in chicken meat were significantly changed in expression levels between non-GM and GM chicken, and only 3 of the 1500 soluble protein spots including green fluorescence protein were markedly different as a result of gene transfer. These above results showed that the combination of serological and 2D-DIGE analysis is a valid method of evaluating quality and quantity of allergens in GM foods.