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

Il Ryong Kim,Da In Kang,Hye Song Lim,Jung Ro Lee,Wonkyun Choi,Sang Yeol Lee

doi:10.3390/app10217721

Il Ryong Kim, Da In Kang + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app10217721

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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.

Highlights

The prevalence of living modified organisms (LMOs) that result from advances in biotechnology, especially in modern agriculture, has been rapidly increasing
The process of the natural environmental LMO monitoring and post-management project developed by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and National Institute of Ecology (NIE) was conducted in three steps: (i) environmental LMO monitoring, (ii) LMO detection analysis, and (iii) post-management (Figure 1)
LMO environmental monitoring sites were determined according to the information available for the import ports, roadsides, feed factories, and stockbreeding farmhouses

Summary

Introduction

The prevalence of living modified organisms (LMOs) that result from advances in biotechnology, especially in modern agriculture, has been rapidly increasing. The extent to which LMOs could potentially have adverse effects on the natural environment or human health, remains both unclear and controversial. To address these potential risks, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which entered into force in December 1993, provided information on the safety of modern biotechnological advancements and this included LMOs [1]. South Korea signed the CPB in September 2000 and legalized the “Transboundary Movement, Etc. of LMO Act” ( referred to as LMO Act) in March 2001, to implement the protocol [3]. The CPB and LMO Act in South Korea came into effect in January 2008. The Ministry of Environment (MOE) is in charge of the jurisdiction over LMOs when they are “used to reduce or remove environmental pollutants or to restore the environment,” and when there are “effects on natural ecosystems” [4]

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