• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.206-211
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• 2014

Nutritional assessment of transgenic crops to improve safety evaluations is important for food production. An oxidative stress-tolerant rice was generated by stable insertion of the TC gene-a tocopherol cyclase isolated from tobacco-into the genome of a common variety of japonica colored rice. The nutritional composition of the brown rice grains from the transgenic TC line was compared with that of the parental rice cultivar Heugnambyeo and two different varieties of non-transgenic rice. The results indicate that the analyzed nutritional compositions of the brown grains from the transgenic TC line were within the range of values reported for other commercial lines, and measurements of nutritional compositions were equivalent to those of the non-transgenic rice.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1030-1035
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• 2003

This study was conducted to evaluate the safety of herbicide-resistant rice, a genetically modified organism (GMO) developed by the Rural Development Administration, in Sprague-Dawley rats. The nutrient content of herbicide-resistant polished and brown cooked rice was compared with that of conventional Ilpum polished and brown cooked rice to assess composition equivalence. Compositional analysis was performed to measure proximates, fiber, and minerals before animal feeding. Growing male rats were fed one of the following four diets for six weeks: Ilpum polished cooked rice (IP) and Ilpum brown cooked rice (IB) as a non-GMO and herbicide-resistant polished cooked rice (GP) and brown cooked rice (GB) as a GMO. We checked clinical symptoms (anorexia, salivation, diarrhea, polyuria, anuria, fecal change) every day, food intake, change of body weight twice a week, and serum biochemistry and organ weights after 6 weeks of experimental feeding among the four groups. Nutrient content of the herbicide-resistant rice was similar to that of the non-transgenic control and was within the published range observed for non-transgenic rice. We could not find any significant difference in the above-mentioned items as the index to be checked in the animals fed the GMO. These results suggest that the nutrient content of genetically modified herbicide-resistant rice is compositionally equivalent to that of conventional Ilpum rice and that growing male rats fed herbicide-resistant rice are no different from those fed Ilpum rice, non-GMO for 6 weeks.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1390-1394
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• 2008

Previously, we found that the transgenic rice plants over-expressing the Arabidopsis $H^+/Ca^{2+}$ antiporter CAX 1 (accession no. U57411) gene accumulated 2.7 to 7.5-fold more calcium in the T3 rice grains as compared to those of control. To examine physiological safety of the $T_3$ rice grains, the effect of the $T_3$ brown rice on change in levels of body weight and white blood cells was compared with that of the control Ilpum brown rice by feeding trial in mice. During the feeding trial for one month, there was no significant difference between two mice groups, which were fed by the $T_3$ brown rice or Ilpum brown rice. There were no detectable differences in their effects on immune functions including plaque-forming unit, peritoneal macrophage number, and NK-cell activity. In addition, biochemical analysis of the blood failed to exhibit any difference between two mice groups. Together, these results suggested that the $T_3$ brown rice, which was produced from a genetically modified organism (GMO), might be safe and possess a potential to be applicable as calcium-fortified feed or food. Long-term safety of the $T_3$ brown rice, however, remains to be elucidated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1152-1158
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• 2012

Development of transgenic plant increasing crop yield or disease resistance is good way to solve the world food shortage. However, the persistence of marker genes in crops leads to serious public concerns about the safety of transgenic crops. In the present paper, we developed marker-free transgenic rice inserted high molecular-weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) gene ($D{\times}5$) from the Korean wheat cultivar 'Jokyeong' using Agrobacterium-mediated co-transformation method. Two expression cassettes comprised of separate DNA fragments containing only the $D{\times}5$ and hygromycin resistance (HPTII) genes were introduced separately into Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105 strain for co-infection. Each EHA105 strain harboring $D{\times}5$ or HPTII was infected into rice calli at a 3: 1 ratio of EHA105 with $D{\times}5$ gene and EHA105 with HPTII gene expressing cassette. Then, among 66 hygromycin-resistant transformants, we obtained two transgenic lines inserted with both the $D{\times}5$ and HPTII genes into the rice genome. We reconfirmed integration of the $D{\times}5$ and HPTII genes into the rice genome by Southern blot analysis. Wheat $D{\times}5$ transcripts in $T_1$ rice seeds were examined with semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Finally, the marker-free plants containing only the $D{\times}5$ gene were successfully screened at the $T_1$ generation. These results show that a co-infection system with two expression cassettes could be an efficient strategy to generate marker-free transgenic rice plants.