Bioinformatic Methods for Identifying Known or Potential Allergens in the Safety Assessment of Genetically Modified Crops

Agricultural crops have been genetically improved through centuries of breeding to select phenotypes that are controlled by combinations of genes, typically with undefined mutations, which produce the desired traits. Changes in the plant characteristics (e.g., disease resistance, insect resistance, food quality) typically have been slow, except when partial or full genomes have been combined. This combination as is hypothesized to have occurred thousands of years ago in the generation of modern hexaploid wheat as a hybrid cross of tetraploid and diploid progenitors (1). Such crosses result in the combination of hundreds to thousands of different proteins in a single food. In contrast, modern tools of biotechnology have allowed the introduction of one or a few new genes and resulting proteins into crop varieties that are carefully selected and studied for safety and performance before being allowed into commercial production (2, 3). As methods to introduce desired traits in plants have improved, so too has the public