A whole-genome analysis of a transgenic rice seed-based edible vaccine against cedar pollen allergy

• DNA Research
• Volume 20, Issue 6
• Pp. 623-631.

1. Taiji Kawakatsu1, 
2. Yoshihiro Kawahara2, 
3. Takeshi Itoh2 and 
4. Fumio Takaiwa1,*

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹Genetically Modified Organism Research Center, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, 2-1-2 Kan-nondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8602, Japan
2. ²Agrogenomics Research Center, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, 2-1-2 Kan-nondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8602, Japan

1. ↵*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel. +81 29-838-8373. E-mail:takaiwa@nias.affrc.go.jp

• Received May 23, 2013.
• Accepted July 18, 2013.

Abstract

Genetic modification (GM) by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is a robust and widely employed method to confer new traits to crops. In this process, a transfer DNA is delivered into the host genome, but it is still unclear how the host genome is altered by this event at single-base resolution. To decipher genomic discrepancy between GM crops and their host, we conducted whole-genome sequencing of a transgenic rice line OSCR11. This rice line expresses a seed-based edible vaccine containing two major pollen allergens, Cry j 1 and Cry j 2, against Japanese cedar pollinosis. We revealed that genetic differences between OSCR11 and its host a123 were significantly less than those between a123 and its precedent cultivar Koshihikari. The pattern of nucleotide base substitution in OSCR11, relative to a123, was consistent with somaclonal variation. Mutations in OSCR11 probably occurred during the cell culture steps. In addition, strand-specific mRNA-Seq revealed similar transcriptomes of a123 and OSCR11, supporting genomic integrity between them.

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Key words

• cedar pollen allergy
 
• GM crop
 
• transgenic rice
 
• transcriptome
• whole-genome sequence

• © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Kazusa DNA Research Institute.

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