• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2008

We analyzed the current research trends of living modified organisms (LMO) by questionnaires in the interest of making biosaftey laws and policies in Korea. We executed a pre-survey at the Crop Functional Genomics 2004 conference and obtained LMO research information from 423 LMO research organizations, including 32 national research institutes, 314 universities, and 77 industries. We found that the total 59 kinds of hosts including 26 kinds of plants, 15 kinds of animals, and 18 kinds of microbes were used for LMO research and E. coli was the most common host. The risk of the most experimental hosts was below a biosafety level of 1 (73.8%) and 2 (25.9%). LMO development use purpose was implemented in various developmental uses: 51.3% in test and research use, 19% in health and medical use, and 12.9% in agriculture use. The experiment product, waste product, and products of host for LMO development were 327.2, 223.6, and 13.5 in number of plants; 280.6, 52.4, and 8.7 in number of animals; and $8.3\;{\times}\;10^{11}CFU$, $7.7\;{\times}\;10^{11}CFU$, and $6.5\;{\times}\;10^{11}CFU$ in microbes in 2004. The survey results about how to possess the LMO were very unreliable, because only 10.6% of the researchers returned the questionnaires. Consequently, we strongly suggest the scientific organizations as well as scientists should have more interests in biosafety of LMO research and an LMO biosafety management system should be developed for Korea's future biotechnology.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: Living modified microorganisms (LMMs) have been focused in two very different aspects of positive and negative effects on ecology and human health. As a model experiment, wild type and a foreign origin gene-harboring modified E. coli strains were subjected to comparison of their metabolomes and potential effects on soil microbiota in the laboratory sets. This study assumes the unintentional release of LMMs and tries to suggest potential effects on the soil microbiota even at minimal settings. METHODS AND RESULTS: Metabolomes from the wild type and LM E. coli were analyzed by NMR and the profiles were compared. In the laboratory soil experiments, the two types of E. coli were added to the soils and monitored for the bacterial community compositions. Those metabolomic profiles did not show significant differences. The microbial community structures from the time series soil DNAs for both the sets using wild type and LMO also did not indicate significant changes, but minor by the addition of foreign organisms regardless of wild or LMO. CONCLUSION: Even if the recombinant microorganism (LMO) is released into the soil environment, the survival of microorganisms in the environment would be one of the major factors for the transfers of foreign genes to other organisms and diffusion into the soil environment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.445-451
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• 2021

In this study, we described the production of an antibody to living modified organisms (LMOs) containing the gene encoding for 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) from Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain CP4 EPSPS provides resistance to the herbicide glyphosate (N- (phosphonomethyl) glycine). These LMOs were approved and have recently been used in the feed, food production, and processing industries in South Korea. Highly efficient monoclonal antibody (mAb) production is crucial for developing assays that enable the proper detection and quantification of the CP4 EPSPS protein in LMOs. This study describes the purification and characterization of recombinant CP4 EPSPS protein in E. coli BL21 (DE3) based on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and matrixassisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The production of mAbs was undertaken based on the standard operating procedure of Abclon, Inc.(South Korea), and the purity of the mAbs was assessed using SDS-PAGE. The following five mAb clones were produced: 2F2, 4B9, 6C11, 10A9, and 10G9. To verify the efficiency and specificity of the five developed mAbs, we performed Western blotting analysis using the LM (living modified) cotton crude extracts. All mAbs could detect the CP4 EPSPS protein in the LM cotton traits MON1445 and MON88913 with high specificity, but not in any other LM cottons or non-LM cottons. These data indicate that these five mAbs to CP4 EPSPS could be successfully used for the further development of antibody-based detection methods to target CP4 EPSPS protein in LMOs.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.196-203
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• 2015

AbstractLiving modified organisms (LMO) are one of the most widespread products of modern biotechnology after DNA discovery. Due to the decline of grain self-sufficiency rate and the increase of reliance on LMO imports in Korea, a series of concerns with regard to safety of living modified(LM) crops has been raised. The aim of this study is to establish the detection methods for unintentional release or growing of LMO plants in environmental conditions. To detect LM crop events, general concepts of specific primer design and PCR conditions were provided by the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The certified reference materials of seven LM events (4 soybean, 2 cotton and 1 corn) were obtained from the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) and the American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS). Genomic DNA from seven LM events were purified and PCR amplifications were carried out by using individual event-specific primer sets. LM-specific PCR products of all seven events were efficiently amplified by our methods. The results indicate that the established detection method for LMOs is suitable as a scientific tool to monitor whether the crops found in natural environments are LMOs.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.212-220
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• 2022

DNA markers have been studied and used intensively to identify plant species based on molecular approaches. The genus Medicago belongs to the family Fabaceae and contains 87 species distributed from the Mediterranean to central Asia. Five species of Medicago are known to be distributed in South Korea; however, their morphological characteristics alone cannot distinguish the species. In this study, we analyzed the phylogenetic relationships using collected five species of Medicago from South Korea and 44 taxa nucleotide information from NCBI. The constructed phylogenetic tree using gibberellin 3-oxidase 1 and tRNA^Lys (UUU) to maturase K gene sequences showed the monophyly of the genus Medicago, with five species each forming a single clade. These results suggest that there are five species of Medicago distributed in South Korea. In addition, we designed polymerase chain reaction primers for species-specific detection of Medicago by comparing the plastid sequences. The accuracy of the designed primer pairs was confirmed for each Medicago species. The findings of this study provide efficient and novel species identification methods for Medicago, which will assist in the identification of wild plants for the management of alien species and living modified organisms.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

As the social and economic value of living modified organisms (LMOs) increase, so do the potential risks they pose to humans and the environment. Therefore, all laboratories using LMOs must establish an LMO laboratory in accordance with the standards required by regulations. Recently, in high school, LMO-related experimental programs have been developed for their educational effects. Also, in this case, it is necessary to comply with the regulation for LMO laboratories. However, high schools are still unfamiliar with the LMO laboratory, and it is difficult for teachers to manage an LMO laboratory because its implementation applies the same standards to general research institutes. In this study, we used causal chain analysis to discover the difficulties each teacher faced while setting up an LMO laboratory by examining three cases. The difficulties experienced by teachers are as follows: the first problem is "reluctance to set up an LMO laboratory," because of "administrative tasks for laboratory registration" and "difficulty in persuading colleagues." The second problem is a difficulty for teachers to operate LMO laboratory in blind spots, due to "inflexible installation and closure," "medical waste disposal," and "LMO education that does not fit the school context." Through this study, although the difficulty of running an LMO laboratory is caused by a lack of necessity and insufficient consideration of the school context, the more fundamental cause was a lack of collaborative planning between the educational field and the operating institutions. The teachers who participate in this research suggest that "using shared LAB" and "preparing opportunities for knowledge sharing" can be considered as strategies for operating the school's LMO laboratory. We feel that this study will provide a useful reference for teachers or schools planning to build an LMO laboratory.

• 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.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.163-170
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• 2022

There is a continuous rise in the commercialization of living modified (LM) organisms worldwide. While LM plants have not yet been cultivated in South Korea, research, development, import of products, and registration of related research facilities are progressing. LM plants should be tested in greenhouses and fields during development. Furthermore, environmental risk assessment and safety management should be performed before their release into the environment. Research on LM plant development is conducted in laboratories as well as confined greenhouses and fields. Safety management regulations are provided as combination standards for the LMO Act in each research district. The accidental release of the LM petunia in Japan was a significant incident related to LM plant research. It implies that normal plants within the distance of crossing should be regarded as LM plants. In the United States, LM creeping bentgrass was released into the environment, thus necessitating the establishment of stringent measures to prevent the scattering of LM plant seeds by wind or other mediums. In South Korea, LM Zoysia and LM cotton were released through rainwater. Therefore, safety measures that prevent LM seed mixing and plant vegetative propagules escaping into the environment via rainwater must be established. Preventing the dispersal of unapproved LM plants requires significant time, expenditure, and effort. Researchers should first identify the impact of LM plants on the ecosystem, and steps to avert their environmental release must be implemented.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.473-478
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• 2016

With the increasing development and commercial use of genetically modified maize, it is essential to develop an appropriate method for detection of individual LMO (Living modified organism) events for monitoring the samples. In South Korea, commercial planting and accidental or unintentional releases of LMOs into the environment were not approved. In this study, to increase the efficiency of LMO detection, we developed simultaneous detection methods for 11 LM maize events. This multiplex PCR detection method is economical, as it saves time, cost and labor. We developed 11 individual LM maize events, and applied 4 multiplex PCR sets to the LM maize samples. These results are confirmed by applying the multiplex analysis of LMO environmental monitoring from 2012 to 2014, which represents the unintentionally released LM maize samples. The data were correlated with event specific PCR results. Our results indicate that the multiplex PCR method developed is suitable for detection of LM maize in LMO monitoring.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.247-253
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• 2023

Revolutionary advancements, such as the reduction in DNA sequencing costs and genome editing, have transformed biotechnology, fostering progress in manipulating biomolecules, engineering cells, and computational biology. Agriculture and food production have significantly benefited from tools like high-throughput microarrays, accelerating the selection of desired traits. Genetic engineering, especially utilizing genome editing, facilitates precise alterations in plants and animals, harnessing microbiomes and fostering lab-grown meat production to alleviate environmental pressures. The emergence of new biotechnologies, notably genome editing, underscores the necessity for regulatory frameworks governing LM (living modified) organisms. Global regulations overseeing genetically engineered or genome-edited (GE) organisms, encompassing animals, exhibit considerable diversity. Nonetheless, prevailing international regulatory trends typically exclude genomeedited plants and animals, employing novel biotechnological techniques, from GMO/ LMO classification if they lack foreign genes and originate through natural mutations or traditional breeding programs. This comprehensive review scrutinizes ongoing risk and safety assessment cases, such as genome-edited beef cattle and fish in the USA and Japan. Furthermore, it investigates the limitations of existing regulations related to genome editing in Korea and evaluates newly proposed legislation, offering insights into the future trajectory of regulatory frameworks.