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. These approaches were gel electrophoresis, Gas chromatography coupled
with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and amino acids analysis. First we assessed proteomic variations
applying gel electrophoresis analysis in two different transformed plants (GM-potato and GM-Tomato)
along with their non-transformed counterparts. Further we pursued with our analysis using one of the
tested GM-plants (transgenic tomato) and its non-transgenic counterpart applying Gas
chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and amino acids analysis.
The results indicated proteomic variations between both transgenic plants (GM-potato and GMtomato)
compared to their non-transgenic counterparts, where the protein patterns separation on the
1D SDS-PAGE were not similar in both cases. Results of the amino acid concentrations of the
transformed tomato were also different compared to its non-transgenic 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.