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Team:Harvard/allergy/methods
From 2010.igem.org
methods
As proteins provoke the majority of allergic reactions, we hope to diminish the allergenic properties of our plants by suppressing the expression of proteins that aren't necessary for the plant's survival but have been found to cause allergic responses in humans. This problem is complicated by the fact that proteins with allergenic properties may have several slightly different (but similar enough to remain allergens) homologues spread throughout the plant's genome. Subject to the constraint of the plant's survival, we would like to reduce or eliminate the expression of these homologues as well.New version:
Creating hypoallergenic plants is a complicated process. Many proteins that provoke allergic reactions are essential for the plant's survival, and plants frequently produce more than one version of the protein. Our ability to reduce and eliminate allergy-inducing proteins from a plant is constrained by what proteins the plants need for survival and our success in eliminating homologous versions of the offending protein.
When plants, or any organism, synthesizes proteins, genomic DNA is transcribed into mRNA, which is translated into a protein. In order to reduce or eliminate production of proteins in any organisms, either the genomic DNA coding for the mRNA is removed, or transcription or translation has to be stopped.
Removing the region of the genome coding for the protein is difficult for many reasons, one of which is that genomes are difficult to alter without inadvertently damaging the organism. Another difficulty is that genomic alterations have many limitations. For instance, the organism must have relatively few cells to effectively weed out unwanted DNA.
The preferred method of stopping protein production in plants is through a process called RNAi, short for RNA interference. The general concept behind RNAi is using special types of RNA to stop the translation process.
