Allergic diseases are characterized by elevated allergen-specific IgE and excessive inflammatory cell responses. Among the reported plant allergens, grass pollen and grain allergens, derived from agriculturally important members of the Poaceae family such as rice, wheat and barley, are the most dominant and difficult to prevent. Although many allergen homologs have been predicted from species such as wheat and timothy grass, fundamental aspects such as the evolution and function of plant pollen allergens remain largely unclear. With the development of genetic engineering and genomics, more primary sequences, functions and structures of plant allergens have been uncovered, and molecular component-based allergen-specific immunotherapies are being developed. In this review, we aim to provide an update on (i) the distribution and importance of pollen and grain allergens of the Poaceae family, (ii) the origin and evolution, and functional aspects of plant pollen allergens, (iii) developments of allergen-specific immunotherapy for pollen allergy using biotechnology and (iv) development of less allergenic plants using gene engineering techniques. We also discuss future trends in revealing fundamental aspects of grass pollen allergens and possible biotechnological approaches to reduce the amount of pollen allergens in grasses.

过敏性疾病的特征在于过敏原特异性IgE升高和炎性细胞反应过度。在已报道的植物过敏原中，禾本科花粉家族的农业重要成员（例如水稻，小麦和大麦）衍生的草花粉和谷物过敏原是最主要的也是最难预防的。尽管已经从诸如小麦和提摩太草这样的物种中预测了许多过敏原同系物，但是在很大程度上尚不清楚诸如植物花粉过敏原的进化和功能等基本方面。随着基因工程和基因组学的发展，已经发现了植物过敏原的更多主要序列，功能和结构，并且正在开发基于分子成分的过敏原特异性免疫疗法。在这篇评论中，我们旨在提供以下方面的最新信息：（i）禾本科植物花粉和谷物过敏原的分布和重要性，（ii）植物花粉过敏原的起源和进化，以及功能方面，（iii）过敏原特异性免疫疗法的发展利用生物技术对花粉过敏，以及（iv）利用基因工程技术开发较少致敏性的植物。我们还将讨论揭示草粉花粉过敏原基本方面的未来趋势以及减少草粉花粉过敏原数量的可能的生物技术方法。