Research progress in peanut allergens and their allergenicity reduction

Background: Peanut is a nutrient-rich popular food. However, it has been estimated that 1%-2% of the world's population are allergic to peanut, which can cause serious allergic reactions, including allergic shock and anaphylactic death in certain people. Thus, identifying peanut allergens and decreasing allergenicity have been serious and important food safety issues. Scope and approach: Sixteen peanut allergens and their structure and IgE linear binding site are summarized in this review. Various techniques and means to reduce peanut allergenicity, including physical (heat, radiation, and high-pressure treatments), chemical (glycosylation, magnetic-bead adsorption, and acid treatment), and biological (microbial fermentation, enzyme catalysis, and genetic engineering) methods, are evaluated and compared. Key findings and conclusions: Multiple allergens are present in peanuts. Their sequences, structures and allergenic characters have been examined extensively. Although Ara h 1, Ara h 2, Ara h 3, and Ara h 6 are the major allergens, individuals allergic to peanut often had IgE recognized multiple peanut allergens. Among the various methods capable of reducing peanut allergenicity, heating and high-pressure treatments appear to be practical and effective in general, and irradiation, acid treatment, and other physical and chemical may work under certain circumstances. Of note, fermentation has the advantage of improving tasting and reducing allergenicity at the same time. It is conceivable that combination of multiple methods will result in more effective means to reduce allergenicity of peanut and prevent the development of serious allergy.