More recently, the utility of the G12 antibody to identify potentially selleck compound toxic oat varieties for celiac patients has been reported [17]. This finding allowed classification of oat varieties into three groups based in their degree of affinity for the G12 antibody: a highly recognized group, one of moderate recognition, and one with no reactivity [17]. The reactivity that T-cells isolated from celiac patients exhibited with three oat varieties (one from each of the classified groups) correlated directly with the moAb G12 reactivity. The diversity observed in the reactivity to the different oat cultivars suggests variations in the avenin composition, and therefore in the amount of immunotoxic epitopes similar to the 33-mer present in these varieties.

In comparison with wheat gliadins, the avenins have been little studied, and the number of full avenin genes present at the moment in the databases is limited and from few genotypes, so that the variability of avenin genes in oats is not well represented. With this background, the aim of the present work was to obtain further gene sequences from different toxic and non-toxic varieties of oats in order to provide more information on the structure of avenin genes and on the evolutionary relationships with the prolamins and glutenins of wheat and other cereals. It also would facilitate the identification of toxic epitopes described in other cereals that might be present in oats. Furthermore, these sequences could lead to the discovery of new undescribed toxic epitopes in cereals and explain why certain varieties of oats are toxic for celiac patients and others are not.

In this work we demonstrate that oat grains have both monomeric and polymeric avenins, designated in this paper gliadin- and glutenin-like avenins. We found a direct correlation between the immunogenicity of the different varieties of oats and the presence of the specific peptides with a higher/lower potential immunotoxicity. Our results suggest that there is a wide range of variation in the potential immunotoxicity of oat cultivars that could be due to differences in the degree of immunogenicity in their sequences. Materials and Methods Plant material Oats (Avena sativa L.) from cultivars designated OM719, OH727, OF720 and OP722 [17] and Triticum aestivum cv ��Bobwhite 208�� (BW 208) were used in this work.

Plants were grown in pot of 1 liter filled with a potting mixture of 1 part of Floragard Universal Potting Soil (FloraGard Product), 1 part of sand and 1 g/L of mixture of Osmocote Exact Standard (Scotts? Professional products) in a greenhouse with supplementary light to extend the photoperiod to a day/night regimen of 12/12. These cultivars were chosen based AV-951 on their previously reported CD toxicity [17]. Cultivar OM719 was highly toxic, cultivar OH727 was moderately toxic and cultivars OF720 and OP722 were non-toxic [17].