An approach for detection and quantification of fruits' natural profilin: Natural melon profilin as a model

Anaphylactic reactions are of great importance in clinical allergology. Measurement of allergen concentration in foods is helpful to estimate their allergenicity. In this study, a sandwich ELISA for the evaluation of profilin concentration in fruits was designed. A mixture of monoclonal antibodies against saffron profilin was used as a capture antibody. The recombinant melon profilin was expressed in Escherichia coli BL-21 and applied as a standard antigen along with different fruit extracts to measure their profilin concentration. Furthermore, a polyclonal antibody against the recombinant melon profilin was produced and applied as the secondary antibody. In this way, the profilin concentration of various fruits including banana, tomato, kiwi, mulberry, cantaloupe, peach, watermelon and zucchini was measured. The results showed that the designed ELISA had a sensitivity threshold of about 1 ng/ml for the melon profilin and it is therefore suggested for determination of profilin concentration in other fruits. © 2011 Taylor & Francis