• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.135-140
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• 2013

A less simple approach developed for generation of marker-free transgenic plants is to select transformants without the use of selective marker genes. Some results about development of marker-free transgenic plants were obtained using a non-selective approach in several crops such as rice, potato and tobacco. However, the study did not provide evidence on detailed characterization of introduced gene on genome, a critical step for confirming the stable integration and transmission of a foreign gene. In this study, we evaluated structure and integration sites of transgene (mCry1Ac) in the transgenic Bt rice plants which were made via conventional Agrobacterium-mediated transformation by non-selective method. Structure and integration sites of transgene in these transgenic plants had similar fashion as those recovered under selection.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2013

Genetically modified (GM) rice Agb0101, which expresses the insecticidal toxin modified cry1Ac (mcry1Ac1) gene, was developed by the Rural Development Administration in Korea. To monitor the probable release of Agb0101 in the future, it is necessary to develop a reliable detection method. Here, we developed the PCR detection method for monitoring and tracing of GM rice. The primer pair (RBEgh-1/-2) from a starch branching enzyme (RBE4) gene was designed as an endogenous reference, giving rise to an expected PCR amplicon of 101 bp. For the qualitative PCR detection, construct- and event-specific primers were designed on the basis of integration sequence of T-DNA. Event-specific PCRs amplified specifically 5'- or 3'-junction region spanning the native genome DNA and the integrated gene construct, while none of amplified product was shown on crops, rice varieties, and other insect-resistant transgenic rice lines. The event-specific real-time PCR method was performed using TaqMan probe and plasmid pRBECrR containing both rice endogenous gene RBE4 sequence and 5'-junction sequence as the reference molecule. The absolute limit of quantification (LOQ) of real-time PCR was established with around 10 copies for one plasmid molecule pRBECrR. Thereafter, the different amounts of transgenic rice (1, 3, 5, and 10%, respectively) were quantified by using the established real-time PCR method, with a range below 19.55% of the accuracy expressed as bias, 0.06-0.40 of standard deviation (SD) and 3.80-7.01% of relative standard deviations (RSD), respectively. These results indicate that the qualitative and quantitative PCR methods could be used effectively to detect the event Agb0101 in monitoring and traceability.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.296-302
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• 2011

Insect-resistant transgenic rice was developed by inserting the mCry1Ac1 a modified gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). For biosafety assessment, we studied the effects on survival of cantor Daphnia magna, a commonly used as a model organism in ecotoxicological studies. D. magna fed on Bt rice and its near non-genetically modified (GM) counterparts (Nakdong) grown in the same environment (100% ground rice suspension). The Bt rice was comfirmed to have the insertion of T-DNA and protein expression by the polymerase chain reaction and ELISA analysis. Feeding study showed similar cumulative immobility and abnormal response of D. magna between Bt rice and non-GM counterparts. 48 h-$EC_{50}$ values of Bt rice and non-GM rice showed 4,429 and 2,889 mg/L respectively. The rice no observed effect concentration (NOEC) values for D. magna was suggested 1,000 mg/L. We conclude that the tested Bt-rice and Nakdong similar cumulative immobility for D. magna the widely used model organism. We found out that there is strong possibility that the growth of Bt rice didn't affect to non-target insects.