Transgenic peas expressing an α‐amylase inhibitor gene from beans show altered expression and modification of endogenous proteins

Abstract

Differential in-gel electrophoresis showed contrasting effects of the transgenic expression of an alpha-amylase inhibitor from beans on the proteomes of two pea cultivars. One cultivar showed minor changes relative to its non-transgenic parent with only one protein changing by more than about twofold. Changes in the abundance of certain endogenous proteins in the other cultivar were of greater number and magnitude with some endogenous proteins undetected while some new protein spots appeared in the transgenic proteome. The sets of proteins with altered expression were generally different between the two cultivars. Some of the proteins that were differentially expressed were identified by MS. Most were seed storage globulins, which are sited together with the transgenic product. Some of the changes may be due to alterations in expression levels but there were also changes due to post-translational processing.

A decade of plant proteomics and mass spectrometry: Translation of technical advancements to food security and safety issues

“…It was concluded that the proteomics differences between transgenic and non-transgenic plants were more likely due to physiological variations. This conclusion was confirmed by another study of the effects of transgenic aAI on proteomes of two pea cultivars carried out by 2D-DIGE (Islam et al, 2009). These authors found that even transformed with the same gene, two transgenic cultivars showed no (at least little) common alterations of protein profiles.…”

Achievements and Challenges in Improving the Nutritional Quality of Food Legumes

“…However the commercial development of these lines was abandoned when transgenic seeds appeared to invoke a T-cell response in mice which was not evident when either of the non-transgenic pea or bean seeds were tested. This observation and subsequent studies led to the conclusion that differential glycosylation of the α-amylase inhibitor Downloaded by [West Virginia University] at 06:35 20 November 2014 expressed in the non-host plant had triggered a pre-immune response (Editorial, 2006); other minor changes to seed proteins were also documented for the transgenic seeds, likely reflecting pleiotropic effects on post-translational processing (Islam et al, 2009) as noted also for other organs and species (Lehesranta et al, 2005).…”

Evaluation of Genetically Engineered Crops Using Transcriptomic, Proteomic, and Metabolomic Profiling Techniques

“…Analyzing two pea (Pisum sativum) cultivars producing a bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) a-amylase inhibitor (AI1), Islam et al (2009) found around 30 seed protein spots showing changes in abundance in each transgenic/control pair (generally not the same spots, although AI1 was produced at similar levels in both cultivars). While differences were minor for one pair, they were more pronounced quantitatively and qualitatively (appearance and disappearances of 36 protein spots) for the second pair.…”