The comparative analysis of GM vs wild type plants highlighted subtle differences, most of which were considered as ""predictable unintended effects"" due to the primary effect of the transgene on the starch biosynthetic pathway. In particular, increased levels of SBEI isoforms in RNAi lines probably represent a compensatory effect due to the absence of SBEIIa enzymes. Other proteins involved in starch synthesis, namely SSII, GBSS and phosphorylase enzymes, also showed significant changes in their relative abundance.
These results were detectable in both lines obtained with the two different transformation procedures, thus showing that the transgenic event is the main factor responsible for the effect on protein expression.