Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica.
J Sci Food Agric. 2014 Mar 30;94(5):1034-8. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.6374. Epub 2013 Oct 2.
Papaya, a nutritious tropical fruit, is consumed both in its fresh form and as a processed product worldwide. Major quality indices which include firmness, acidity, pH, colour and size, are cultivar dependent. Transgenic papayas engineered for resistance to Papaya ringspot virus were evaluated over the ripening period to address physicochemical quality attributes and food safety concerns.
With the exception of one transgenic line, no significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed in firmness, acidity and pH. Lightness (L*) and redness (a*) of the pulps of non-transgenic and transgenic papaya were similar but varied over the ripening period (P < 0.05). Fruit mass, though non-uniform (P < 0.05) for some lines, was within the range reported for similar papaya cultivars, as were shape indices of female fruits. Transgene proteins, CP and NPTII, were not detected in fruit pulp at the table-ready stage.
The findings suggest that transformation did not produce any major unintended alterations in the physicochemical attributes of the transgenic papayas. Transgene proteins in the edible fruit pulp were low or undetectable.
木瓜是一种营养丰富的热带水果，在全球范围内既以新鲜形式食用，也以加工产品形式食用。包括硬度、酸度、pH 值、颜色和大小在内的主要质量指标取决于品种。为了应对理化质量属性和食品安全问题，对具有抗番木瓜环斑病毒能力的转基因木瓜进行了成熟过程中的评估。
除了一条转基因品系外，硬度、酸度和 pH 值没有观察到显著差异（P>0.05）。非转基因和转基因木瓜果肉的明度（L*）和红色度（a*）相似，但在成熟过程中有所变化（P<0.05）。果实质量虽然对某些品系来说不均匀（P<0.05），但在类似的番木瓜品种范围内，雌性果实的形状指数也是如此。在可食用的果肉达到食用准备阶段时，未检测到果实中的转基蛋白 CP 和 NPTII。
研究结果表明，转化过程没有对转基因木瓜的理化属性产生任何重大的意外改变。可食用果肉中的转基因蛋白含量较低或无法检测到。
