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This project seeks to develop robust methodologies to characterise the glycosylation of transgenic plant proteins for application in risk assessments.
<p>This project aims to develop robust methods to characterise the glycosylation of proteins for routine analysis of transgenic plants.
<p>Standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be developed that may be suitable for use by industry and regulatory authorities.
<p>The established relationship between protein glycosylation, immunogenicity and allergenicity means that the methods developed could be used to inform the risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) plants.
Novel methods will be developed to identify and characterise N- and O-linked glycans of plant proteins.
<p>These methodologies will then be developed into SOPs and their performance for routine analysis will be evaluated. Methods will be tested using plant proteins which are known to be glycosylated, including those from transgenic plants in which the pattern of glycosylation is known to be inauthentic and consequently conferring unexpected allergenicity.
<p>These methods will allow the determination of differences in glycosylation patterns between individual glycoproteins as well as between different plants.
<p>Find more about this project and other FSA food safety-related projects at the <a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/" target="_blank">Food Standards Agency Research webpage</a>.