Changes in Gene and Protein Expression during Tomato Ripening - Consequences for the Safety Assessment of New Crop Plant Varieties

An important part of the comparative approach to assess the safety of new crop plant varieties is an extensive compositional analysis, including the measurement of all key nutrients and antinutrients in a specific crop. The study described here investigates the applicability of 'omics' technologies, transcriptomics and proteomics, as additional tools in this comparative safety assessment. The aim of the work was to assess the extent of the natural variation in ripening tomato fruits as a model crop and to determine whether it is possible to develop simple 'ripening stage' criteria for the sampling of fruits for 'omics' analyses. It is shown that the set-up of an 'omics' study is of crucial importance. Samples under scrutiny should be well-matched with relation to environmental conditions during growth and harvest, including the stage of ripening, as is stipulated in international guidance documents for the nutritional and toxicological assessment of genetically modified plants.