Abstract
Pollen food allergy syndrome (PFAS) is class 2 food allergy. There are many patients with Betulaceae pollen allergy who concomitantly develop apple PFAS in Japan and Europe. Varietal differences in allergen components have been clarified in Europe. However, most cultivars are not common between Europe and Japan, and there is no information for allergens of varieties cultivated in Japan, excluding several varieties cultivated overseas such as Fuji. With this background, we compared the mRNA levels of Mal d 1, which are high among the main allergen components of apple PFAS, Mal d 1, using apple varieties cultivated in Japan, especially in Nagano Prefecture. Using 28 varieties of apples produced in Nagano Prefecture as samples, relative quantification of mRNA was
performed using real-time PCR. Compared with that in Sun fuji, the Mal d 1.01 mRNA expression level was significantly lower in 18 varieties, including Aika no kaori, whereas it was significantly higher in Koutoku. The Mal d 1.02 mRNA expression level was significantly lower in 6 varieties, including Shinano dolce, and significantly higher in 10 varieties, including Shinano red. This is the first study to conduct a quantitative analysis of Mal d 1 mRNA expression levels in Japanese apple cultivars and the data will help dietary advice for apple PFAS patients.
