Proteome changes in tomato lines transformed with phytoene synthase-1 in the sense and antisense orientations

The commercial cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) crops in Europe has met with considerable consumer resistance, which has led to vigorous safety assessments including the measurement of substantial equivalence between the GE and parent lines. This necessitates the identification and quantification of significant changes to the metabolome and proteome in the GE crop. In this study, the quantitative proteomic analysis of tomato fruit from lines that have been transformed with the carotenogenic gene phytoene synthase-1 (Psy-1), in the sense and antisense orientations, in comparison with a non-transformed, parental line is described. Multidimensional protein identification technology (MudPIT), with tandem mass spectrometry, has been used to identify proteins, while quantification has been carried out with isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ). Fruit from the GE plants showed significant alterations to their proteomes compared with the parental line, especially those from the Psy-1 sense transformants. These results demonstrate that MudPIT and iTRAQ are suitable techniques for the verification of substantial equivalence of the proteome in GE crops.