• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.192-200
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• 2012

For the development of genetically modified plants, it is important to verify various factors which potentially affect the risk assessment as well as to establish an experimental program to produce scientific and reliable data. However, it is a time and cost consuming process to develop GM plants as well as to prepare scientific and convincible data for government's approval. Therefore, using the transgenic hot pepper tolerant to a new CMV pathotype, we attempted to suggest few methodological procedures, such as probe saturation for southern blot analysis and RT-PCR and ELISA for expression analysis, for identification and stability evaluation of inserted gene in genetically modified plant which are required for submission for approval. Ten partially overlapped probes covering full length of inserted gene were produced. We could identify that the inserted gene was stacked as a single copy as well as no partial element existed. Also, we could identify the stability of the inserted gene stacked in hot pepper using probe saturation. In the expression analysis with RT-PCR and ELISA, we also could provide the stable expression of transcript and proteins in leaves and placenta and pericarp of fruits of the CMV-resistant hot pepper.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.900-906
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• 2005

The responses of two luminescence-based biosensors were studied on various heavy metals in aqueous solutions. One was recombinant E. coli ($DH5{\alpha}$/pSB311), genetically modified luminescence-based bacteria, and the other was Vibrio fisheri used for the LumisTox system. The recombinant E. coli was marked with the lux CDABE gene from multicopy plasmid, pACYC184, originally isolated from Photorhabdus luminescens. The $DH5{\alpha}$/pSB311 had a characteristic of no organic substrate for its luminescence reaction. Among the tested heavy metals Zinc and cadmium were less toxic than copper and mercury. The recombinant E. coli was more sensitive to toxicity of heavy metals than the LumisTox. The order of toxicity of the heavy metals to the recombinant E. coli was $Hg^{2+}>Cu^{2+}>Zn^{2+}>Cd^{2+}$. In case of the LumisTox, the order of the toxicity of heavy metals was $Hg^{2+}>Cu^{2+}>Cd^{2+}>Zn^{2+}$. The genetically modified luminescence-based biosensor offers a range of sensitive, rapid, and easy to use methods for assessing the potential toxicity of heavy metals in aqueous samples.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.278-288
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• 2011

This study was conducted to evaluate the safety of ${\beta}$-carotene biofortified rice, a genetically modified organism (GMO) developed by Rural Development Administration. ${\beta}$-carotene biofortified rice were exposed on Sprague-Dawley rats for 13 weeks. All rats survived until the end of the exposure period. There were no biologically significant differences in body weight, feed and water consumption, weight gains and feed efficiency. There were no clinical signs of toxicity attributable to exposure to GM rice. Mild decreases in AST, ALT, TG levels were observed in Group II (25% GM rice (w/w) and Group III (50% GM rice (w/w), both in females and males. Results of histopathological changes treated with the ${\beta}$-carotene biofortified rice had no significant differences between the control and treatment groups. Based on these results, we deemed that genetically modified ${\beta}$-carotene biofortified rice was as safe as conventional rice.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2004

The different social reflections about the benefits and the potential risks of genetically modified (GM) crops have evolved with .different reactions in different countries. Many countries including Korea are working toward setting down new guidelines. Korea requires companies to label all food that contains more than 3% GM ingredients. One of the rapid and convenient detection methods of GM ingredients is amplification of the introduced DNAs by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Many PCR kits for this purpose are commercially available. The objective of this study was to evaluate performance of commercialized GM crop detection kits. The results showed that 6 out of 15 kits tested did not meet the requirements even purposed by the manufacturers themselves in terms of stability, reproducibility, and detection limits, suggesting a potential quality control problem in their design stage or production line. The evaluation also suggests that, although the duplex and triplex detection kits allowed unambiguous detection in a single PCR reaction, the monoplex detection kits were the most sensitive to the detection of GM ingredients. The detection limits also differ between soybean and corn. Results from this study will be useful in the development of sound qualitative tracking systems of GM ingredients for monitoring throughout the cultivation of GM crops, their trans-boundary movement, and food production using GM grains as well as for complying with government guidelines associated with GM crops.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.1155-1161
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• 2003

A three-year (2000-2002) survey on consumer's awareness and perception of genetically-modified (GM) foods was conducted on random samples of Korean consumers. More than 65% of the respondents were exposed to some information related to GM foods. The greatest benefit of the development of GM foods was thought to be their remedy of potential food shortages in the future. More than 90% of Korean consumers wanted GM foods to be labeled. About 18% of the respondents would buy GM foods voluntarily, whereas over 46% would not until they knew more about the product. Only 39% of Korean consumers were found to have realized that food items origination from plants contained genes. More consumers responded that they would not buy herbicide-resistant GM soybean and buy vitamin-enriched GM soybean instead. Many Korean consumers appeared to make decisions of acceptance or rejection of GM foods not on the basis of biotechnology, but on the basis of the word(s) used to describe the products, such as herbicide and vitamin. Only 4% of Korean consumers responded that GM foods were the greatest threat to the safety of Korean foods.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.192-199
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: Genetically modified (GM) crops must receive relevant regulator's authorization before they can be sold as seed or used food, feed and processing. Before approving any GM crop, the relevant government ministries are required to examine environmental risk assessment to make scientifically sound and socially acceptable decisions. But one of the least studied and understood areas in the environmental risk assessment of GM crops are their impact on soil microbial community. METHODS AND RESULTS: Recently, advanced methods have been developed to characterize the soil microbial community in various environments. In this study, the culture-dependent and culture-independent technical approaches for profiling soil microbial communities are summarized and their applicability to assess GM crops are discussed. CONCLUSION(S): We concluded that the effect of GM crops on soil microbial community need to be assessed on a case by case basis. The combination of culture-dependent and culture-independent method was necessary for reliable and detailed assessment of effect of GM crops on soil microbial community.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.213-218
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the bioavailability and nutritive functions of Nak-Dong rice or genetically modified ${\beta}$-carotene-biofortified rice (GM rice) in an experimental animal model. Wistar rats fed either GM rice or Nak-Dong rice did not show differences in bioavailability, growth, organ weights, or visceral fat, suggesting that the nutrient content of GM rice is compositionally equivalent to that of conventional Nak-Dong rice. In addition, GM rice showed improved nutritive function in terms of increased defecation, decreased lipids, and decreased blood glucose.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.828-832
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• 2004

Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to quantify soy protein in fresh soybean curd (bean curd) produced by combination of genetically modified (GM) and genetically not modified (non-GM) soybeans. Antibodies against 113 and 24 kDa proteins, which appeared only in non-GM bean curd (specific band), and in both non-GM and GM bean curds (non-specific band) based on SDS-PAGE results, were prepared by immunization to rabbit. Through ELISA using either antibody, GM bean curd protein content was determined at dilution rates of $10^{-1}-10^{-6}$. Standard curve showing relationship between ELISA optical density and non-GM protein content was produced using antibody against 113 kDa protein at protein dilution between $10^{-7}\;to\;10^{-6}$, highly antigen content-dependent dilution. Bean curd prepared by random combinations of GM and non-GM soybeans were analyzed by ELISA, and standard curve was produced. Results reveal non-GM protein content of bean curd could be quantified with higher than 93% accuracy.

• 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.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1271-1284
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• 1997

Background : Tumor necrosis factor(TNF) has been considered as an important candidate for cancer gene therapy based on its potent anti-tumor activity. However, since the efficiency of current techniques of gene transfer is not satisfactory, the majority of current protocols is aiming the in vitro gene transfer to cancer cells and re-introducing genetically modified cancer cells to host. In the previous study, it was shown that TNF-sensitive cancer cells transfected with TNF-$\alpha$ cDNA would become highly resistant to TNF, and the probability was shown that the acquired resistance to TNF might be associated with synthesis of some protective protein. Understanding the mechanisms of TNF-resistance in TNF-$\alpha$ cDNA transfected cancer cells would be an important step for improving the efficacy of cancer gene therapy as well as for better understandings of tumor biology. This study was designed to evaluate whether the levels of TNF receptor mRNA expression and soluble TNF receptor release from cancer cells are changed after TNF-$\alpha$ cDNA transfection. Method : We transfected TNF-$\alpha$ c-DNA to WEHI164(murine fibrosarcoma cell line), NCI-H2058(human mesothelioma cell line), A549(human non-small cell lung cancer cell line), ME180(human cervix cancer cell line) cells using retroviral vector(pLT12SN(TNF)) and confirm the expression of TNF with PCR, EUSA, MTT assay. Then we determined the TNF resistance of TNF-$\alpha$ cDNA transfected cells(WEHI164-TNF, NCIH2058-TNF, A549-TNF, ME180-TNF) and evaluated the TNF receptor mRNA expression with Northern blot analysis and soluble TNF receptor release with EUSA. Results : The TNF receptor mRNA expressions of parental cells and genetically modified cells were not significantly different. The soluble TNF receptor levels of media from genetically modified cells were lower than those from parental cells. Conclusion : The acquired resistance to TNF after TNF-$\alpha$ cDNA transfection may not be associated with the change in the TNF receptor and the soluble TNF receptor expression.