Project description:There is an ongoing debate on the potential toxicity of genetically modified food. The ability of rodent feeding trials to assess the potential toxicity of these products is highly debated since a 2-year study in rats fed NK603 Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize, treated or not with Roundup during the cultivation, resulted in anatomorphological and blood/urine biochemical changes indicative of liver and kidney structure and functional pathology. We used microarrays to detail the alterations in gene expression profiles associated with the consumption of a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize (NK603) sprayed or unsprayed with a Roundup herbicide from these same animals.
Project description:There is an ongoing debate on the potential toxicity of genetically modified food. The ability of rodent feeding trials to assess the potential toxicity of these products is highly debated since a 2-year study in rats fed NK603 Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize, treated or not with Roundup during the cultivation, resulted in anatomorphological and blood/urine biochemical changes indicative of liver and kidney structure and functional pathology. We used microarrays to detail the alterations in gene expression profiles associated with the consumption of a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize (NK603) sprayed or unsprayed with a Roundup herbicide from these same animals.
Project description:Renewables-based biotechnology depends on enzymes to degrade plant lignocellulose to simple sugars that are converted to fuels or high-value products. Identification and characterization of such lignocellulose degradative enzymes could be fast-tracked by availability of an enzyme activity measurement method that is fast, label-free, uses minimal resources and allows direct identification of generated products. We developed such a method by applying carbohydrate arrays coupled with MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry to identify reaction products of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger. We describe the production and characterization of plant polysaccharide-derived oligosaccharides and their attachment to hydrophobic self-assembling monolayers on a gold target. We verify effectiveness of this array for detecting exo- and endo-acting glycoside hydrolase activity using commercial enzymes, and demonstrate how this platform is suitable for detection of enzyme activity in relevant biological samples, the culture filtrate of A. niger grown on wheat straw. In conclusion, this versatile method is broadly applicable in screening and characterisation of activity of CAZymes, such as fungal enzymes for plant lignocellulose degradation with relevance to biotechnological applications as biofuel production, the food and animal feed industry.
Project description:The presence of lunasin was investigated in two soybean products, raw soy seeds and a commercial soybean beverage powder. Lunasin from the commercial soybean derivative was purified by reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography and bystrong anion exchange solid phase extraction. Lunasin was further characterized by Top-down mass spectrometry (MS). The top-down characterization of lunasin unraveled a wide range of post-translationally modified proteoforms.
Project description:According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada, genetically modified crops are considered safe if they are substantially equivalent to a conventional crop in regards to agronomic, physiological and compositional characteristics. A recurring issue in safety assessment of genetically modified crops is the paucity of analytical methods to detect unintended or unexpected outcomes of genetic modification. Traditional targeted compound comparative analyses are limited in scope and capacity to detect unintended changes in chemical composition. This study explored the potential of using microarray technology to assess the substantial equivalence of gene expression profiles between genetically modified and conventional soybean cultivars. Different pre processing methods were applied to the raw expression data from the arrays, and clustering methods were used to try and differentiate the genetically modified cultivars from the conventional cultivars. Results showed that more variation existed between different strains of conventional cultivars than between conventional and genetically modified cultivars. For more information, please see: Cheng, K.C., Beaulieu, J., Iquira, E., Belzile, F.J., Fortin, M.G. and Strömvik, M.V. (2008). Effect of transgenes on global gene expression in soybean is within the natural range of variation of their conventional counterparts. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Keywords: Expression comparison between genetically modified cultivars
Project description:Mycotoxin citrinin (CTN) is a contaminant widely found in foods, feeds, and fermented health supplements. To investigate the potential neurotoxic effect of CTN, RNA-seq was performed on human neuroblastoma cells SH-SY5Y exposed to 0, 10, and 20 μM CTN for 72 h. The transcriptomic profile revealed novel underlying mechanisms of CTN neurotoxicity, providing useful information for risk assessment of consuming CTN-contaminated grains and its commercial food products.
Project description:According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada, genetically modified crops are considered safe if they are substantially equivalent to a conventional crop in regards to agronomic, physiological and compositional characteristics. A recurring issue in safety assessment of genetically modified crops is the paucity of analytical methods to detect unintended or unexpected outcomes of genetic modification. Traditional targeted compound comparative analyses are limited in scope and capacity to detect unintended changes in chemical composition. This study explored the potential of using microarray technology to assess the substantial equivalence of gene expression profiles between genetically modified and conventional soybean cultivars. Different pre processing methods were applied to the raw expression data from the arrays, and clustering methods were used to try and differentiate the genetically modified cultivars from the conventional cultivars. Results showed that more variation existed between different strains of conventional cultivars than between conventional and genetically modified cultivars. For more information, please see: Cheng, K.C., Beaulieu, J., Iquira, E., Belzile, F.J., Fortin, M.G. and Strömvik, M.V. (2008). âEffect of transgenes on global gene expression in soybean is within the natural range of variation of their conventional counterparts.â Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (in press) Experiment Overall Design: Five samples (biological replicates) of total RNA from each of the five different soybean varieties were selected for hybridization to Affymetrix Soybean GeneChips, for a total of 25 chips (following total RNA integrity assessment). Spike controls B2, bio-B, bio-C, bio-D and Cre-x were added to each hybridization cocktail. Arrays were washed and stained in an Affymetrix Fluidics Station prior to scanning on the Affymetrix GeneChip Scanner 3000. Image acquisition and processing was done with the Affymetrix Microarray Analysis Suite 5.0.
Project description:In this study we used non-targeted molecular profiling to provide insight into the extent of variation in the maize transcriptome, proteome and metabolome by analyzing replicas of two genetically modified and one isogenic maize genotype. Three white maize lines, the transgenic commercial Bt hybrid line DKC78-15 Bt (event MON810 from Monsanto), the transgenic commercial Roundup Ready (RR) line DKC78-35R (event NK603 from Monsanto) and its respective control line CRN 3505 (conventional from Monsanto) were grown in three consecutive years, and in two or three different locations in South Africa.