An Overview of Seafood Allergens: Structure–Allergenicity Relationship and Allergenicity Elimination Processing Techniques
Seafood (fish, crustacean, and mollusk) allergy represents a critical global health issue. Food processing offers a viable strategy for allergenicity mitigation and serves as a critical intervention for seafood allergy prevention. This paper reviews recent advances in seafood allergen research, with...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Foods |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/13/2241 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849319770347798528 |
|---|---|
| author | Yang Yang Yehao Zhang Xinrong He Fei Huan Jinli Chen Meng Liu Siyang He Shinong Gu Guangming Liu |
| author_facet | Yang Yang Yehao Zhang Xinrong He Fei Huan Jinli Chen Meng Liu Siyang He Shinong Gu Guangming Liu |
| author_sort | Yang Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Seafood (fish, crustacean, and mollusk) allergy represents a critical global health issue. Food processing offers a viable strategy for allergenicity mitigation and serves as a critical intervention for seafood allergy prevention. This paper reviews recent advances in seafood allergen research, with particular focus on molecular properties, epitopes, and structure–allergenicity relationships, which are foundations for designing processing technologies to mitigate allergenicity. Furthermore, an analysis of how various food processing techniques modulate allergen structures and epitopes, ultimately affecting their allergenicity, was conducted. Current World Health Organization (WHO)/International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) listings include 44 fish allergens and 60 shellfish allergens, with their characterization enabling targeted processing approaches for allergenicity elimination. Physical processing techniques, including thermal and non-thermal treatment, can dramatically influence the conformational and linear epitopes by altering or destroying the structure of an allergen. Chemistry-based processing techniques (enzymatic-catalyzed cross-linking and glycation), which induce covalent/non-covalent interactions between allergens and various modifiers, can effectively mask epitopes through molecular complexation. Biological processing attenuates allergenicity by inducing protein unfolding, polypeptide chain uncoiling, and enzymatic degradation. Nevertheless, the structure–activity relationship of seafood allergens remains insufficiently elucidated, despite its critical role in guiding processing technologies for allergenicity elimination and elucidating the fundamental mechanisms involved. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-404375379844463bb9c32e5cd3663a27 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2304-8158 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foods |
| spelling | doaj-art-404375379844463bb9c32e5cd3663a272025-08-20T03:50:20ZengMDPI AGFoods2304-81582025-06-011413224110.3390/foods14132241An Overview of Seafood Allergens: Structure–Allergenicity Relationship and Allergenicity Elimination Processing TechniquesYang Yang0Yehao Zhang1Xinrong He2Fei Huan3Jinli Chen4Meng Liu5Siyang He6Shinong Gu7Guangming Liu8College of Environment and Public Health, Xiamen Huaxia University, 288 Tianma Road, Xiamen 361024, ChinaCollege of Environment and Public Health, Xiamen Huaxia University, 288 Tianma Road, Xiamen 361024, ChinaCollege of Ocean Food and Biological Engineering, Jimei University, 43 Yindou Road, Xiamen 361021, ChinaCollege of Ocean Food and Biological Engineering, Jimei University, 43 Yindou Road, Xiamen 361021, ChinaCollege of Environment and Public Health, Xiamen Huaxia University, 288 Tianma Road, Xiamen 361024, ChinaCollege of Marine Biology, Xiamen Ocean Vocational College, Applied Technology Engineering Center of Fujian Provincial Higher Education for Marine Food Nutrition Safety and Advanced Processing, Xiamen 361102, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaCollege of Environment and Public Health, Xiamen Huaxia University, 288 Tianma Road, Xiamen 361024, ChinaCollege of Ocean Food and Biological Engineering, Jimei University, 43 Yindou Road, Xiamen 361021, ChinaSeafood (fish, crustacean, and mollusk) allergy represents a critical global health issue. Food processing offers a viable strategy for allergenicity mitigation and serves as a critical intervention for seafood allergy prevention. This paper reviews recent advances in seafood allergen research, with particular focus on molecular properties, epitopes, and structure–allergenicity relationships, which are foundations for designing processing technologies to mitigate allergenicity. Furthermore, an analysis of how various food processing techniques modulate allergen structures and epitopes, ultimately affecting their allergenicity, was conducted. Current World Health Organization (WHO)/International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) listings include 44 fish allergens and 60 shellfish allergens, with their characterization enabling targeted processing approaches for allergenicity elimination. Physical processing techniques, including thermal and non-thermal treatment, can dramatically influence the conformational and linear epitopes by altering or destroying the structure of an allergen. Chemistry-based processing techniques (enzymatic-catalyzed cross-linking and glycation), which induce covalent/non-covalent interactions between allergens and various modifiers, can effectively mask epitopes through molecular complexation. Biological processing attenuates allergenicity by inducing protein unfolding, polypeptide chain uncoiling, and enzymatic degradation. Nevertheless, the structure–activity relationship of seafood allergens remains insufficiently elucidated, despite its critical role in guiding processing technologies for allergenicity elimination and elucidating the fundamental mechanisms involved.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/13/2241allergenic proteinelimination processingepitopesprotein structureseafood allergy |
| spellingShingle | Yang Yang Yehao Zhang Xinrong He Fei Huan Jinli Chen Meng Liu Siyang He Shinong Gu Guangming Liu An Overview of Seafood Allergens: Structure–Allergenicity Relationship and Allergenicity Elimination Processing Techniques Foods allergenic protein elimination processing epitopes protein structure seafood allergy |
| title | An Overview of Seafood Allergens: Structure–Allergenicity Relationship and Allergenicity Elimination Processing Techniques |
| title_full | An Overview of Seafood Allergens: Structure–Allergenicity Relationship and Allergenicity Elimination Processing Techniques |
| title_fullStr | An Overview of Seafood Allergens: Structure–Allergenicity Relationship and Allergenicity Elimination Processing Techniques |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Overview of Seafood Allergens: Structure–Allergenicity Relationship and Allergenicity Elimination Processing Techniques |
| title_short | An Overview of Seafood Allergens: Structure–Allergenicity Relationship and Allergenicity Elimination Processing Techniques |
| title_sort | overview of seafood allergens structure allergenicity relationship and allergenicity elimination processing techniques |
| topic | allergenic protein elimination processing epitopes protein structure seafood allergy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/14/13/2241 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yangyang anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT yehaozhang anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT xinronghe anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT feihuan anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT jinlichen anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT mengliu anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT siyanghe anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT shinonggu anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT guangmingliu anoverviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT yangyang overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT yehaozhang overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT xinronghe overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT feihuan overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT jinlichen overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT mengliu overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT siyanghe overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT shinonggu overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques AT guangmingliu overviewofseafoodallergensstructureallergenicityrelationshipandallergenicityeliminationprocessingtechniques |