Allergenicity of tropomyosin variants identified in the edible insect Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly)

Danila Delfino; Barbara Prandi; Erminia Ridolo; Luca Dellafiora; Lorenzo Pedroni; Francesca Nicoletta; Davide Cavazzini; Stefano Sforza; Tullia Tedeschi; Claudia Folli

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137849

Allergenicity of tropomyosin variants identified in the edible insect Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly)

Food Chem. 2023 Oct 24;437(Pt 1):137849. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137849. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Medicine and Surgery Department, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Medicine and Surgery Department, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁸ Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁹ Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁰ Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39491244
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137849

Abstract

Insect consumption could address the increasing protein demand in compliance with environmental sustainability. Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly, BSF) is a promising insect for human diet and it is essential to assess the related allergenic risk, meant as primary sensitization or cross-reactivity with known allergens. In this work, we investigate the allergenicity of two tropomyosin variants identified in the BSF genome and produced as recombinant proteins. Immunoblot experiments showed that both proteins were recognized by sera of patients allergic to shrimp or mites highlighting the cross-reactivity risk. CD spectroscopy, cross-linking assays and size-exclusion chromatography showed a structure composed of alpha-helices oligomers for both variants. These proteins were quite stable to pH but sensitive to increasing temperatures. In vitro simulated digestion associated to mass-spectrometry allowed the identification of peptides resistant to gastrointestinal conditions which were compared with epitopes of Arthropoda and Mollusca allergens to predict the persistence of allergenicity upon digestion.

Keywords: Allergens; Edible insects; Epitopes; Food safety; Tropomyosin variants.