<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Compositional Analysis</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Mature fruits from four different specimens of line X17-2 were subjected to compositional analysis. Published information on other transgenic papaya lines (Hawaiian cultivars 55-1 and 63-1) and nontransgenic varieties was used for comparison. The range of analytes included proximates (moisture, ash, total dietary fiber, calories, total fat, carbohydrate, and protein), minerals (sodium, calcium, iron), total sugar, fats (saturated, mono- and poly-unsaturated), benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), and vitamins (beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin C).</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">It was concluded that compositional values of the X17-2 line were not meaningfully different from those given for the other varieties. Vitamin C values were comparable to the literature values of other varieties cited by the developer. Although Vitamin A values were somewhat higher on average, the range overlapped with the value reported in the United States Department of Agriculture&#39;s National Nutrient Database.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Endogenous Toxicants</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">The presence of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) in the latex of green papaya tissues has been linked to incidents of spontaneous abortions in pregnant women and with a higher incidence of prostate cancer in Japanese men over the age of 70. Because ripe papaya fruits have no latex they also have virtually no BITC content, and, therefore, the consumption of ripe fruit would not be expected to be linked to any abortifactant effects. BITC was assayed in green fruits of seven different X17-2 breeding lines with concentrations ranging from 0.2 milligrams (mg) to 4.8 mg per 100 mg of green fruit. Similar or greater ranges were found with the same assay in three conventional cultivars.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Potential Toxicity and Allergenicity</b></p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">There is a history of safe consumption of PRSV CP derived from virus-infected papaya fruit, and there is no indication that the form of the CP expressed in transgenic X17-2 papaya is materially different in any way that would affect its potential for toxic or allergenic effect. Additionally, the PRSV CP does not possess any of the physiochemical properties normally associated with protein allergens or toxins, such as heat stability and resistance to digestion by simulated gastric fluids. Also, there were no regions of homology when the deduced amino acid sequence of PRSV CP was compared to the amino acid sequences of known protein allergens or toxins.</p>
