About this Research Topic
Plants are a major source of food and airborne allergens and affect the quality of life for an increasing amount of the population. Pollen from plants such as ragweed, grasses, and trees are the most common allergens due to their airborne exposure. Furthermore, the foods that most frequently cause allergic reactions include various plants such as peanuts, tree nuts, wheat and soy – though it is apparent a hypo-allergenic food crop does not exist. The allergy-causing molecular component in the various plants and plant parts are proteins, and hence proteomics is a suitable approach for investigating plant allergens and allergies. In this regard, proteomic technologies have been used for allergen discovery through targeted, absolute quantitation of specific allergens. This research topic aims to present the latest research efforts addressing the issues of: 1) what are the strategies applied to identify and quantify allergy-causing plant proteins; 2) what are the identities and sequences of identified allergenic proteins from various plants; 3) which are the strategies aimed at mitigating allergies to food plants; 4) what are the molecular reactions to exposure to plant-derived allergens in humans or mouse models. The research topic, while being focused on plant allergens, can therefore span all the range from botany to biotechnology and human medicine. We welcome all types of articles including original research, methods, opinions, and reviews that provide new insights on plant allergens and plant allergies attained through the use of mass spectrometry-based or alternative proteomic methods.
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