• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.335-338
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• 2005

For the development of qualitative PCR detection method of genetically modified rice (Oryza sativa L.), rice species specific gene, SAMDC1 (S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase), was selected and validated as suitable for use as an endogenous reference gene in rice. The primer pair OsSAMDC1-5'/3' with 110 bp amplicon was used for amplification of the rice endogenous gene, SAMDC1 and no amplified product was observed from 19 different plants as templates. Qualitative PCR method was assayed with 2 different GM rices (Milyang 204 and Iksan 483) developed in Korea. For the qualitative PCRs, the construct-specific detection primer pairs were constructed. Os204-5'/OsNOS-3' amplifying the junction region of GUS gene and NOS terminator introduced in Milyang 204 gave rise to an amplicon 172 bp; also, Os483-5'/OsNOS-3' amplifying the junction region of Bar gene and NOS terminator introduced in Iksan 483 gave rise to an amplicon 161 bp.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.289-298
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• 2018

The Biosafety Division of the National Academy of Agricultural Science has developed a 'Crop Composition DB' that provides analytical data on commercialized crops. It can be used as a reference in the 'Comparative Evaluation by Compositional Analysis' for the safety assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops. This database provides the composition of crops cultivated in Korea, and thus upgrades the data to check the extent of changes in the compositional content depending on the cultivated area, varieties and year. The database is a compilation of data on the antioxidant, nutrient and secondary metabolite compositions of rice and capsicum grown in two or more cultivation areas for a period of more than two years. Data analysis was conducted under the guidelines of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists or methods previously reported on papers. The data was provided as average, minimum and maximum values to assess whether the statistical differences between the GM crops and comparative non-GM crops fall within the biological differences or tolerances of the existing commercial crops. The Crop Composition DB is an open-access source and is easy to access based on the query selected by the user. Moreover, functional ingredients of colored crops, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and cauliflowers, were provided so that food information can be used and utilized by general consumers. This paper introduces the feature and usage of 'Crop Composition DB', which is a valuable tool for characterizing the composition of conventional crops.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2006

Changes of CP4 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (CP4 EPSPS) in the glyphosate-tolerant Roundup Ready soybean were examined using purified CP4 EPSPS produced in cloned Escherichia coli as a control. CP4 EPSPS in genetically modified soybean was detected by twodimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) with databases. CP4 EPSPS in soybean products was resolved on 2-DE by first isoelectric focusing (IEF) based on its characteristic pI of 5.1, followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) based on its molecular mass of 47.5 kDa. We quantified various percentages of soybean CP4 EPSPS. The quantitative analysis was performed using a 2D software program on artificial gels with spots varying in Gaussian volumes. These results suggested that 2-DE image analysis could be used for quantitative detection of GM soybean, unlike Western blotting.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2018

'New Breeding Techniques (NBTs)' have been one of hot issues, since their future will be affected profoundly by national as well as international regulatory landscapes. In this review, we compare characteristics of NBTs with conventional and genetic modification, and analyze genetically modified organism (GMO) regulatory systems in the context of possible regulation of NBTs. NBTs are very heterogeneous in terms of principles, methodologies, and final products. As Living Modified Organisms (LMO) is defined in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) as an organism containing novel combination of genetic materials obtained by the use of modern biotechnology, CPB as well as other national legislations locate itself somewhere in the middle between product-based and process-based regulations. It is also noted that jurisdictions with regulatory systems more oriented to product-based one tend to be more productive and decide or may decide to exempt site-directed nucleases-1 from GMO regulation. In this context, Korean legislations are reviewed to clarify the commons and differences in GMO definitions. Act on Transboundary Movement of LMO Act, Food Sanitation Act and Agricultural and Fishery Products Quality Control Act are three major acts to regulate GMOs. It is noted that there are differences in the definition of LMO or GM food/products especially between the LMO Act and the Food Sanitation Act. Such differences may cause conflicts between Acts when policy-decision regarding the regulation of NBTs is made. Therefore, it is necessary to reorganize legislations before policies regarding the regulation of any techniques from biotechnology are made.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.201-206
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• 2021

To ensure the safety of developing or importing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Korea has enacted the "LMO Act." Accordingly, the safety of using GMOs as food or feed is evaluated in accordance with the concept of "substantial equivalence" proposed by OECD. The allergenicity of GMOs is assessed as a part of their safety evaluation. The methods of allergenicity assessment have been discussed by various international organizations, such as the OECD, FAO, and WHO. The main methods used for the allergenicity assessment of proteins newly expressed in GMOs include assessment of the physicochemical stability of these proteins, evaluation of their amino acid homology with existing allergenic proteins, and serum screening. In this study, we describe guidelines and related studies for the allergenicity assessment of GM crops.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.175-189
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• 2004

There are many assertions related to biotechnology and genetically modified organisms(GMOs). Some experts have asserted that GM foods could be dangerous and that there is no reliable evidence that have been demonstrated safe through appropriate tests, and the others asserted these foods are as safe and nutritions as their conventional counterparts. The objectives of this study was to study an societal implications of biotechnology and GMOs in agriculture. To keep the balance in mind the researcher examined not only usefulness but also harmfulness of GMOs, along with the developmental process of biotechnology industry. It was observed that basically, multinational corporations developed GMOs to maximize their profit, and strengthened their control on agriculture and food through GMOs, as observed in alliance among big multinational corporations' food chain cluster and systems. Under the situation, farmers were losing their status as independent producer and were becoming propertied labor for multinational corporation through contract farming. If these trends continuous in the future, multinational corporations will have the control of genetic resources, these may bring about reduction of bio-diversity, thus may lead the opposite direction to eco-friendly agriculture. If multinational corporations' tendency to suppress the latent harmfulness for the profit continuous further, this may lead the degradation phase of farming and agriculture, thus leading negative socio-economic effects as well as culture and religion.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-77
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• 2021

This study uses a choice experiment approach to examine whether different types of feedstocks as well as other attributes such as the cost of bioethanol, bioethanol blending ratio, and government support policies affect consumers' biofuel preferences. We apply a standard conditional logit model, a mixed logit model (MLM), and individual coefficient estimation model (ICM) to estimate the parameters of the investigated attributes. The results show that people prefer domestic and non-food feedstock, along with tax exemption as a support policy. All the attributes show unobservable preference heterogeneity in the MLM and ICM. In particular, willingness to pay for attributes are higher in the genetically modified (GM) feedstock-unknown group than in the known one. We show the importance of using domestic and non-food feedstocks and managing GM feedstocks carefully to avoid consumer resistance when producing bioethanol in South Korea.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.171-182
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• 2018

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is one of the crops widely planted in tropical and subtropical areas. The papaya fruit has low calories and are plentiful in vitamins A and C and in minerals. A major problem in papaya production is a plant disease caused by the papaya ringspot virus (PRSV). The first PRSV-resistant GM papaya expressing a PRSV coat protein gene was developed by USA scientists in 1992. The first commercial GM papaya cultivars derived from the event was approved by the US government in 1997. Development of transgenic papayas has been focused on vaccine production and limited agricultural traits, including insect and pathogen resistance, long shelf life, and aluminum and herbicide tolerance. Approximately 17 countries, including the USA and China, produced transgenic papayas and/or commercialized them, which provoked studies on biosafety assessment and development of GM-detection technologies. For the biosafety assessment of potential effects on human health, effects of long-term feeding to model animals have been studied in terms of toxicity and allergenicity. Studies on environmental safety assessment include influence on soil-microbial biodiversity and transfer to soil bacteria of GM selection markers. Many countries, such as Korea, the European Union, and Japan, that have strict regulations for GM crops have serious concerns about unintended introduction of GM cultivars and food commodities using unauthorized GM crops. Transgene- and/or GM event-specific molecular markers and technologies for genomics-based detection of unauthorized GM papaya have been developed and have resulted in the robust detection of GM papayas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.68-68
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• 2017

The status of corn genetic diversity in the uplands of Sarangani in Southern Philippines was investigated using 12 morphological traits subjected to multivariate statistical analyses. Information about traditional farming, post-harvest and storage practices were also elicited especially in relation to losses of traditional varieties, a phenomenon known as genetic erosion. While a handful of farmers still plant traditional corn varieties in the remotest areas, a significant number had already shifted to genetically modified corn. Furthermore, principal component analysis (PCA) reduced the 12 morphological traits into 5 principal components and identified ear length and ear weight to be major contributors to variation. Cluster Analysis, on the other hand, formed two distinct groups but failed to give information about intra-cluster variability among the 32 collected corn accessions. These results warrant that more informative morphological traits and that molecular markers will be used to obtain a better picture of genetic diversity in Sarangani upland corn. Molecular analysis is also needed to establish genetic identities of these cultivars and to detect gene introgression from GM varieties into the gene pool of farmers' corn varieties. These analyses are imperative for the conservation of traditional corn varieties before they disappear in the Sarangani uplands because of shifting priorities of upland farmers.

• 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.