INVESTIGATING PROTEOMIC VARIATIONS IN TRANSGENIC TOMATOES COMPARED TO ITS NON-TRANSGENIC COUNTERPART

Three complementary approaches were used for the assessment of proteomic variations due to genetic transformation of the Egyptian tomato cultivar "Edkawy". These approaches were amino acids analysis, gel electrophoresis, and Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS).

The results indicated proteomic variations between both transgenic tomato and its non-transgenic counterpart. Amino acids concentrations, and the protein patterns separation on the 1D SDS-PAGE were not similar in the case of transformed tomato compared to that of the non-transformed counterpart.

These detected differences are most likely due to transformation process. Results also revealed that the efficiency of GC/MS approach to identify a mixture of unknown proteins was limited. GC/MS analysis was only able to identify few number of protein molecules. Therefore, more advanced and specific technologies like LC/MS/MS and MALDI-TOF-MS are recommended to be employed for the identification of unintended effects due to genetic transformation in plants.