Strawberry allergy proteomics
Pollen-related food allergy is common with a negative impact on intake of otherwise health-promoting fruits and berries. We have characterized a birch pollen-related allergen in strawberry (Fragaria ananassa), the most important berry crop in Sweden, in search for an allergen-free variety. We utilized proteome profiling to analyze the biological variation in the expression of thousands of proteins, including proteins that are allergens. Protein separation and identification was obtained by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometry.
Within this project we have developed tools for proteomic data analysis, an open source project to facilitate the storage and analysis in proteomic experiments (http://www.proteios.org/), and SPECLUST, a tool for identifying protein isoforms which is available as a web-application (http://bioinfo.thep.lu.se/speclust.html).
PhD thesis: Rikard Alm, Lund University 2007.
