• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.79-83
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• 2015

The Cucurbitaceae are a plant family that consist of over a hundred genera, the most important of which are squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds, cucumber and watermelon. These are among the top imported seeds in Korea. At the time of their import, the Squash mosaic virus (SqMV), the Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) and the Kyuri green mottle mosaic virus (KGMMV) are designated as regulated viruses for quarantine in Korea. This study was conducted to develop specific primer sets for easy and rapid detection of SqMV, CGMMV and KGMMV. RT-PCR with the nested PCR primer sets and modified positive control plasmids were capable of highly sensitive detection and verification of such viruses. In addition, developed diagnostic PCR systems applied to quarantine sites detected 47 cases of SqMV, 67 cases of CGMMV and 17 cases of KGMMV between 2010 and the first half of 2014.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.360-365
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• 2009

Over the last five years, we have conducted research on risk assessment of domestically developed genetically modified (GM) crops and found a number of factors which could delay risk assessment process. In this review, we described such cases and discussed the problem of transgene cassette integration, the lack of information on vectors, the poor quality control in seed production and absence of bioinformatic analysis on amino acid sequence homology before GM crop development. To solve these problems, we have suggested the introduction of the screening system of elite event before risk assessment process and quality control strategies for GM seed production. In addition, we suggested that the developers of GM crops should understand the importance of risk assessment and management for the commercialization of those crops and consider the biological and ecological characteristics of host plants. Consistent communications may need to be established between GM crop developers, risk assessors and risk managers at the initial stages of GM crop development to reduce trial-and-errors.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.204-214
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• 2015

SHI-RELATED SEQUENCE (SRS) genes are plant-specific transcription factors that contain a zinc-binding RING finger motif, which play a critical role in plant growth and development. Among Brassica rapa SRS genes, BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 genes, isolated from shoot apical regions are important regulators of plant growth and development. In order to explore the function of BrSRS genes in horticultural plant growth and development, two constructs containing BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 under the control of a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter were introduced into petunia by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The resulting transgenic plants were dwarf and compact plants with reduced plant height and diameter. Additionally, these transgenic plants had upward-curled leaves of narrow width and short internodes. Interestingly, the flower shapes of petunia were different among transgenic plants harboring different kinds of SRS genes. These phenotypes were stably inherited through generations $T_2$ and $T_3$. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analyses of transgenic plants revealed that BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 regulate expression of gibberellin (GA)- and auxinrelated genes, PtAGL15- and PtIAMT1-related, involved in shoot morphogenesis. These results indicate that the overexpression of BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 genes suppressed the growth and development of petunia by regulating expression of GA- and auxin-related genes. From these data, we deduce that BrSRS7 and BrLRP1 genes play an important role in the regulation of plant growth and development in petunia. These findings suggest that transformation with the BrSRS genes can be applied to other species as a tool for growth retardation and modification of plant forms.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.210-217
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• 2009

Pollen flow is one of the essential components in the ecological risk assessment of transgenic crops, because pollen can act as a vehicle to disseminate transferred alien genes. Pollen flow pattern of a cultivated rice variety and Living modified (LM) rice was studied at diurnal and distance changes under field. We measured airborne pollen density at the distances of -1, 0.5, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 m from rice cultivation and recorded the direction and speed of wind using weather station in the conventional rice paddy field during the flowering period of rice. Diurnal changes in pollen density were observed as a peak between 10:00 to 13:00 hr. The density of airborne rice pollen geometrically decreased with the increase of distance from pollen sources. It is therefore necessary to carry out a detailed investigation of pollen flow of a particular species, where ecological risk assessment requires an accurate estimation of pollen flow including both distance and intensity of pollen dispersal. The rice pollen flow was significantly influenced by weather conditions, particularly by wind direction and speed. The precise determination of the local wind conditions at flowering time therefore appears to be of primary importance for setting up suitable isolation distance from transgenic rice in the field.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.677-682
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• 2004

Debates on safety of genetically modified (GM) crops have led to mandatory-labeling legislation of GM foods in many countries including Korea. Effects of heat, pressure, and acid treatments on degradation of DNAs or proteins in GM soybean at levels below detection limits of qualitative PCR and lateral flow strip test (LFST) methods were examined. Results showed that genomic DNAs and proteins were degraded into fragment sizes no longer possible for detection of inserted gene depending on thermal, or thermal and pressure treatment period. Detectaability of LFST for toasted meal increased in weakly treated soybean. DNA and protein detection methods were barely effective for detection of GM ingredient after $121^{\circ}C$ and 1.5 atmospheric treatment for 20 min. These results will be useful in determining GM labeling requirements of processed foods.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.511-522
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• 2011

Flower color is one of the main target traits in the flower breeding. Recently, technological advances in genetic engineering have been successfully reported the flower colors, such as blue roses and blue carnations that are impossible to develop by traditional breeding. Accumulated knowledge-based approaches for flavonoid biosynthesis enabled to introduce novel and unique colors into flowers. These flower color modifications have been made through the regulation of flavonoid metabolic pathway - control of endogenous gene expression and introduction of foreign genes to produce novel and specific flavonoids - and the introduction of transcription factors that are known to regulate sets of genes being involving in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway. More empirical regulation of the flavonoids metabolism requires the understanding for regulatory mechanism of intrinsic flavonoids depending on the flower crops and the very sophisticated control of flavonoid metabolic flow. In this review, we summarized successful examples of flower color modification. It might be useful to deduce the strategy for the creation of exquisite colors in flower plants.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2009

For the development of qualitative PCR detection method of genetically modified (CM) rice, rice species-specific gene, OsCc-1 (rice cytochrome c gene), was selected as suitable far use as an endogenous gene in rice. The primer pair OsCytC-5'/3'with 111 bp amplicon was used for PCR amplification of the rice endogenous gene, OsCc-1 and no amplified product was observed from 8 different crops as templates. Qualitative PCR method was carried out with stack traits of L528$\times$CryIAc1 GM rice developed in Korea. For the qualitative PCRs, some primer pairs were designed with a construct-specific and event-specific type based on T-DNA and junction sequences of T-DNA in GM rice. Actck-5'/3' amplifying between actin promoter and OsCK1 gene introduced in LS28 gave rise to an amplicon 306 bp; also, CrLB-5'/3' from CryIAcl and CKRB-5'/3'amplifying the junction region of T-DNA and genome sequence from LS28 as event-specific primers gave rise to an amplicon 142 bp and 91 bp, respectively. These primer pairs for the detection of event-specific targets not produced PCR amplicons on non-CM rice and various crops in contrast to event lines. Therefore, in this study we verified that event-specific primers were effective to specifically detect stack trait lines and demonstrated that this method presented could be provided with the detection-method data for risk assessment analysis of GM rice to be commercialized.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.245-256
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• 2008

The current legislation in South Korea clearly states that the tolerance threshold on the adventitious presence of GMO in environment-friendly agricultural products is 3.0% and no GM seed should be detected in their planting seed batches. To date, in Korea, there is no approved GM crop for commercial cultivation in field. However, several GM crops including rice, Chinese cabbage, potato and wild turf grass are currently under risk assessment for their environmental release. Also Korean government (Rural Development Administration, RDA) announced that 11 institutes including universities have been currently certified to carry out a risk assessment of GM crops. Meanwhile, the cultivated area and certified quantities of environment-friendly crops (organic, pesticide-free and low-pesticide) are sharply increasing every year according to the report of National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS). In detail, in 2007, the certified quantities of environment-friendly agricultural products were elevated up to 100-fold for organic, 171-fold for pesticide-free and 2,324-fold for low-pesticide crops when compared with those in 1999. The total certified quantity of environment-friendly cereal crops in 2007 was equivalent to 6.4% of total production of cereal crops. Moreover, 24% of total production of root and tuber crops such as potato and sweet potato were certified for environment-friendly agricultural products. In these circumstances, I strongly suggest that current legislations on GM crop's safety management should be revised to include strategies for the coexistence of GM with non-GM crops, especially environment-friendly crops before GM crop is approved to be cultivated for commercialization. Since all types of crops are grown in an open environment, the adventitious presence of GM crops among non-GM crops is inevitable if appropriate measures for coexistence are not established for species by species such as isolation distance, workable management measures to minimize admixture.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2015

Canola is a crop globally used for production of oil and biofuel. Cultivation area and import volume of living modified (LM) canola have been increasing every year. As canola import dependence has reached 100% in Korea, efforts have been made for safety management of LM canola and ecological risk assessment. We developed a set of multiplex PCR method for simultaneous detection of 5 LM canola events (Topas 19/2, Rf3, Ms8, RT73 and T45) approved in Korea. The multiplex PCR assay developed allows amplification of estimated products of 5 LM canolas from event specific primer sets. Primer extension time was skipped for a time-consuming process and two annealing steps (20 cycles at $55^{\circ}C$ and 20 cycles at $60^{\circ}C$) were performed for yielding the best result which was sufficient to distinguish five LM canolas. Our results suggest that multiplex PCR method provides a cost and time-effective approach for LM canola detection.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.331-338
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• 2017

In the present study, we investigated the effects of two herbicide-resistant genetically modified rice (GM rice) varieties, Milyang 204 and Iksan 483, recently developed in Korea on non-target insects and a spider. No difference in host preferences of the English grain aphid Sitobion avenae and the brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens were observed between GM rice and non-GM rice. Wolf spider Pirata subpiraticus, feeding on N. lugens reared on GM rice or non-GM rice, revealed no significant difference in body weight. P. subpiraticus, fed with N. lugens reared on Milyang 204, showed survival rates similar to that in P. subpiraticus fed with N. lugens reared on non-GM rice. However, P. subpiraticus feeding on N. lugens reared on Iksan 483 demonstrated significantly lower survival rates than that in P. subpiraticus feeding on N. lugens reared on Milyang 204 or non-GM rice. In addition, when larvae of the western honeybee Apis mellifera were supplied with Iksan 483 pollen, a significantly longer pupal period occurred, as compared with that of A. mellifera supplied with pollen of Milyang 204 or non-GM rice. As GM rice has negative effects on P. subpiraticus, which is an important predator in agricultural ecosystems, and on A. mellifera, which plays important roles in pollination and honey production, additional studies on risk assessment of GM rice should be conducted before releasing newly developed herbicide-resistant GM rice to the agricultural environment.