ALLERGENICITY EFFECTS OF BAR-TRANSGENIC RICE RESISTANT TO HERBICIDE ON PREGNANT MICE

Wang Bo¹, Lu Xiao-Bo^2*

¹Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai Campus, Zhuhai, China -² Northeast Asian Studies College, Jilin University, Changchun, China

For the purpose of investigating on whether rice transgenic with the herbicide Bar gene is allergic to human beings. 120 Kunming mice were randomly divided into the transgenic group and the control group. Each group was fed with Bar-transgenic rice and the same amount of normal variety of rice for 90 days (for three generations). Among the mothers of each group and each generation with 15 days of gestation: 5 samples were randomly selected. Then, a fully automated blood analyzer was used for analyzing blood physiological indicators; The intestinal mucus immunoglobulin A (sIgA), the serum diamine oxidase (DAO) and the IgE were detected by ELISA. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the blood physiological indexes between the transgenic and the control groups. According to the ELISA, the figures in the three indicators (P>0.05) did not vary greatly. On this basis, we attempted to use SDAP, Farrp and NCBI databases to compare and analyze the allergen sequences of phosphorothionin acetyltransferase (PAT), an expression product of herbicide Bar gene. Also, The PAT enzyme had no homology based on the known allergens in the database, hence, it was not likely to cause sensitization. As a conclusion, under the conditions of this experiment, Bar-transgenic rice had no obvious allergic effects on mice. These results can provide important reference data for risk assessment and promotion of Bar-transgenic rice.