Monitoring Living Modified Canola Using an Efficient Multiplex PCR Assay in Natural Environments in South Korea

Abstract

Canola (Brassica napus L.) is cultivated worldwide and utilized as a vegetable oil, biodiesel, and livestock feed. It is also a major living modified (LM) crop alongside corn, soybean, and cotton. Many canola events have been authorized for food, feed, and processing use in South Korea. Concerns about the unintentional release of LM canola into the natural environment have increased environmental monitoring and post-management of living modified organisms (LMOs) is on the rise. The Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the National Institute of Ecology (NIE) conducted an environmental LMO monitoring and post-management project for LM canola from 2014 to 2017. The number of suspicious LM samples gradually increased each year. In this study, a multiplex PCR method was established to detect seven single LM canola events (Topas 19/2, Rf3, Dp-73496-4, Ms8, GT73, Mon88032, and T45) to cover 14 approved LM canola events. This method was utilized to detect 22 LMs out of 260 suspicious canola samples. Thus, this new method is more efficient in terms of time and cost than conventional PCR methods for the identification and monitoring of LMOs.

Comparison of overwintering potential of seeds in laboratory and field conditions for the risk assessment of transgenic plants: a sunflower case study

“…Korea does not cultivate LM plants; however, LMOs have been imported over the past 14 years for use as food, feed, and processing (KBCH 2022). As a result, LM corn, rapeseed, and cotton volunteers have been found in the natural environment around transportation routes, import ports, feed factories, and festival sites (Kim et al 2020;Lim et al 2021;Park et al 2010). Therefore, evaluation of the overwintering potential of imported LMOs, which includes their ability to survive in low temperatures during winter and leads to reproduction in the following spring, is crucial in Korea's LMO review.…”

Organic Connection of Holobiont Components and the Essential Roles of Core Microbes in the Holobiont Formation of Feral Brassica napus

“…In South Korea, B. napus has mainly been grown as a representative landscape crop for spring festivals. Recently, however, the unintentional release of genetically modified rapeseed into natural ecosystems has been increasing, and the environmental threat posed by gene transfer during hybridization is also increasing (Kim et al, 2020). Therefore, information about the diversity of microbes coexisting and interacting with B. napus and their functions are essential to an understanding of the potential effects of transgenic rapeseed on the natural ecosystem.…”

Microbiome dataset of eukaryotic and fungal communities in the bulk soil and root of wild Brassica napus in South Korea

“…Rhizaria was the most dominant eukaryote at the class level, and Olpidiomycetes was the dominant fungal class in this dataset. As unintended releases of transgenic B. napus have been reported in South Korea [1] , the microbiome datasets produced in this work will be used as the foundation for environmental risk assessment to understand the potential effect of released transgenic B. napus on the natural ecosystem.…”