Fruit allergy and genetic and genomic tools to select hypoallergenic fruit cultivars

Abstract

Fruit allergy has become a health problem with regard to food safety and quality of life. Breeding and selection of hypoallergenic fruit cultivars is an efficient way to counteract allergy. This chapter reviews the prevalence of fruit allergy, common symptoms, and fruit species involved and their corresponding allergen proteins. Advancements in their linkage map positions and gene expression in fruit tissue are summarized, and genomic sequencing of apple and peach allergen genes. The genetic basis of cultivar differences in apple allergenicity has been illustrated in particular. Strategies to produce hypoallergenic fruits through conventional breeding and marker-assisted selection are discussed.