• Food Science and Industry
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.130-139
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• 2019

Safety of genetically modified foods (GM foods) in Korea is evaluated according to "Food Sanitation Act" and "Regulation on safety evaluation for GM foods" based on the concept of substantial equivalence. In which cases a person who imports, develops or manufactures GM foods for the purpose of eating imports GM foods for the first time, he/she shall undergo a safety evaluation of the relevant foods, etc. by Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). And in which cases ten years have elapsed since GM foods underwent safety evaluation, they shall be re-evaluated for their safety. As of April 2019, a total of 199 events have been approved by MFDS and they are 169 events of GM crops including soybean (29), maize (87), cotton (29), canola (14), sugar beet (1), potato (4), alfalfa (5), 6 events of GM microorganisms (GMM) and 24 events of GM food additives originated from GMM.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.211-217
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• 2003

To discriminate between the genetically modified soybean processed foods which were Korean traditional foods as Beansprout, doenjang, Beancurd (Tofu) and the unmodified one. we had analyzed comparatively that the loss degree of inner DNA about denaturalization factors in process step as heat or pressure and decision of suitable PCR primer by size. As a result of having compared about ${\beta}$-actin was 160bp, 335 promotor was 130 bp and NOS terminator was 132 bp effective. As a result of having checked a loss degree of a gene, as for the bean curd, DNA was mostly preserved well, and the loss of DNA along the processing process was hardly observed by a processing process. Most DNA of beansprout have moved to trunk after germination stage, and the appropriate analysis part was judged as the trunk. And the doenjang showed a detection difference of DNA by an operation of an enzye among self-life periods. Besides, after 50days, insertion gene was destoryed entrely so that detection was not possible.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.9
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• pp.1310-1314
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• 2012

Gastrointestinal digestibility of new proteins inserted in the food supply is a significant parameter for assessing the safety of GM foods based on the assumption that digestive stability is undesirable. In this study, we performed in vitro digestion of CP4EPSPS, a new protein, expressed in genetically modified (GM) soybean in order to evaluate its digestibility in three different ratios of simulated gastric fluid with preheating. Ratios of GM soybean to simulated gastric fluid were 2:2, 2.5:1.5, and 1.5:2 and preheating was conducted at $100^{\circ}C$ for 5 min. Electrophoresis and Western blotting were used to confirm changes in soybean protein patterns and CP4EPSPS gene expression after in vitro digestion. At ratios in which the amount of gastric fluid was equal to (2:2) or relatively higher than that of soybean (1.5:2), no CP4EPSPS (47.4 kDa) protein was detected after 15 seconds of simulated gastric fluid incubation, the earliest time interval evaluated. However, when the ratio of GM soybean to gastric fluid was 2.5:1.5, CP4EPSPS was detected in 5 min and gradually decreased according to time. After preheating, no CP4EPSPS protein was detected after 15 seconds under all conditions. From these results, we concluded that the digestibility of CP4EPSPS in simulated gastric fluid increased upon preheating. Accordingly, we suggest that it is important to account for the ratio of gastric fluid to GM food in in vitro digestibility assessment models of GM food.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.556-560
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• 2003

It was determined whether the sandwich ELISA using specific anti-CP4 EPSPS polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies, developed in the previous study, could be applied to detect GM soybean or not. The soybeans (47 imported and 20 domestic soybeans) were analyzed by a sandwich ELISA. The results of imported soybeans were divided into two groups which were high contents $(39.1{\pm}13.5\;{\mu}g/g,\;n=33)$ and low contents of CP4 EPSPS $(2.6{\pm}1.2\;{\mu}g/g,\;n=14)$. The ratio of GM in imported soybeans was about 70.2%. One the other hand, the contents of CP4 EPSPS in domestic soybeans was very low $(0.9{\pm}0.5\;{\mu}g/g,\;n=20)$ which determined to be non-GM soybeans. In case of soybean sprouts, the contents of CP4 EPSPS in soybean sprouts were different between GM and non-GM soybean sprout. The CP4 EPSPS in cotyledon of GM soybeans sprout was higher than that in root hair. The contents of CP4 EPSPS in soybeans sprout of domestic soybeans were very low. Thus, it was possible to determine that the soybeans sprout was made of GM or non-GM soybeans. Also, PCR experiment showed that the sandwich ELISA was accurate to distinguish the soybeans to be GM or non-GM. These results showed the sandwich ELISA could determine the soybeans were GM or non-GM, rapidly and simply.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2011

Since the first commercial GM plant, the FlavrSavr tomato, authorized in 1994, more than 140 GM plants were authorized for marketing globally. For the authorization and labelling of GM plants, the detection methods for genes introduced and proteins expressed in GM plants were developed qualitatively and quantitatively. This review presented the detection methods, conventional PCR, multiplex PCR and real-time PCR, for soybean, maize, canola and cotton as the dominant GM plants. Also, microarray assay and nanotechnology as new approaches for detection methods for GM plants were investigated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1299-1307
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• 2017

The quality characteristics of three non-genetically modified (GM) LRS soybean cultivars free of LOX 1, 2 and 3, such as Jinyang, Hayoung and Daebok, were compared to the characteristics of Taekwang, a soybean with LOX 1, 2 and 3 and general contents of raffinose and stachyose. Taekwang was used as a control soybean. The weights of 100 for Taekwang and Hayoung soybeans were significantly higher than those of the other samples. The crude-protein contents of the Jinyang and Hayoung soybeans were significantly higher than the crude-protein content of the Taekwang soybeans. Similar tofu yields were observed in the Taekwang, Hayoung and Daebok soybeans. The highest tofu yield was observed in the Hayoung soybeans. The isoflavone contents of the soybeans and tofu were 1.4-1.6 times and 1.8-3.4 times higher than the contents of the control soybeans, respectively. The total phenol contents of the Hayoung and Daebok soybeans were significantly higher than the contents of the control soybeans. Additionally, the total phenol and flavonoid contents were significantly higher in the tofu made from the LRS cultivars than in the tofu made from the control cultivar. The antioxidant activities of the Taekwang soybeans were higher than the antioxidant activities of the LRS-cultivar soybeans. However, the antioxidant activities of tofu made from the LRS cultivars were significantly higher than the antioxidant activities of tofu made from the control cultivar. The results suggested that the soybeans of the LRS cultivars were suitable for tofu products. The Hayoung cultivar may be the most suitable due to its higher crude protein and isoflavone contents and its significant antioxidant activity.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.439-446
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• 2022

Soybean is a crop with high-quality of protein and oil, and it is one of the most widely used genetically modified (GM) crops in the world today. In South Korea, Kwangan is the most utilized variety as a parental line for GM soybean development. In this study, untargeted LC-MS metabolomic approaches were used to compare metabolite profiles of Kwangan and three other commercial varieties cultivated in Gunwi and Jeonju in 2020 year. Metabolomic studies revealed that the 4 soybean varieties were distinct based on the partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) score plots; 18 metabolites contributed to variety distinction, including phenylalanine, isoflavones, and fatty acids. All varieties were clearly differentiated by location on the PLS-DA score plot, indicating that the growing environment is also attributable to metabolite variability. In particular, isoflavones and linolenic acid levels in Kwangan were significantly lower and higher, respectively compared to those of the three varieties. It was discussed that it might need to include more diverse conventional varieties as comparators in regard to metabolic characteristics of Kwangan for the assessment of substantial equivalence biogenetically engineered soybeans in a Kwangan-variety background.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition Conference
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• 2001.12a
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• pp.69-73
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• 2001

Two opioid peptides, YPLDL and YPLDLF, were isolated from enzymatic digests of spinach ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) and named rubiscolin-5 and -6, respectively. These peptides were selective for delta-receptor and the latter was about 3 times more potent than the former. After oral administration in mice at the dose of 100 mg/kg, rubiscolin-6 showed analgesic activity in tail pinch test. It also stimutated learning performance at the same dose in passive avoidance experiment using step-through apparatus. An immunostimulating peptide, MITLAIPVNKPGR, was isolated from a trypsin digest of soybean protein and named soymetide. Immunostimulating activy of soymetide was mediated by fMLP receptor. Interestingly, after oral administration in rats at a dose of 300 mg/kg (po.), soymetide-4 (MITL) protected alopecia (hair-loss) induced by etoposide, a cancer chemotherapy agent. Stimulation of IL-1 release by the peptide was involved in the mechanism. Ovokinin(2-7), RADHPF, is a vasorelaxing peptide released from ovalbumin by the action of chymotrypsin. It lowered blood pressure of spontaneously hypersensive rats (SHR) after oral administration at a dose of 10 mg/kg. RPLKPW, which was designed by replacing 4 amino acid residues in ovokinin(2-7), exhibited hypotensive activity at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg (po.). This peptides was introduced into 3 homologous sites in soybean beta-conglycinin alpha' subunit by site-directed mutagenesis of the cDNA and expressed in E. coli. The minimum effective dose for hypotensive activity of the genetically modified beta-conglycinin alpha' subunit was 10 mg/kg (po.), which is about 1/200 that of ovalbumin.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2003

In an attempt to evaluate the current research status of genetically modified (GM) plants, the scientific research publications in Korea as well as in international SCI journals were screened. About 190 research articles related to the development of GM plants were searched from 10 different domestic journals in the last 12 years (Jan. 1990 to Sept. 2002), The researches in 65 articles were carried out with tobacco plant, 20 with rice, 19 with potatoes, and less then 9 articles from each other plant species, respectively, In total, 38 different plant species were being subjected for the development of GM plants. In particular, there was only one article for each major staple grains such as wheat, barley, soybean, and maize. In more than 47% of total published articles, scientists mainly focused on the basic research such as developing transformation system (46 articles), gene expression study in transgenic plants (34), and vector constructions (10). In addition, 28 articles which main authors are Korean scientists were searched from 11 different international SCI journals. Again, major plants for GM research were tobacco (10) and rice (7). More than 50% of published articles were focused on the basic research, gene expression study with transgenic plants (16). The publications on the research of disease-resistant plants were 7 articles, 3 for the development of stress-resistant and 2 for the herbicide-resistant plants, respectively. It is believed that the last 10 year's investment through government organizations has just strengthen the capacity for the next big stride on agricultural biotechnology in Korea.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.275-289
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• 2023

Since the implementation of the Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) Act in 2008, approximately 10 million tons of genetically modified corn, soybean, potato, canola, and other crops have been imported into South Korea. The import approval procedures have been completed for approximately 191 cases that include seven crops. Of these, approximately 90 cases, excluding crossbreeds of approved LMOs, were reviewed via consultation risk evaluation in four areas: human health, crop culture, natural ecology, and marine fishery environment. LMO developers in South Korea, who are major stakeholders in the import of LMO crops produced overseas, have raised concerns regarding procedural inefficiency in consultation reviews and the need of excessive reviews that are unsuitable for food-feed processing purposes. These procedures reflect the perspective of consultation agencies that deviate from the nature of risk assessment and demand specific supplementary data that do not reflect familiarity and substantial equilibrium. Based on frequent instances of unintentional environmental release of LMO crops imported into Korea, the ministries responsible for consultation insist on a review that considers the climate and natural environment of Korea. In addition, the ministries mandate that their reviews reflect the expertise of competent ministries and are based on risk assessment principles and methods in accordance with international guidelines. In this regard, considering that traits introduced into LMO crops involving familiar agricultural crops have been considered safe for more than two decades, we have suggested reasonable alternatives to several risk assessment items for agricultural LMOs. These alternatives can mitigate conflicts of interest among key stakeholders within the scope of the current LMO regulations.