• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.277-284
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• 2024

Background: Newly introduced transgenic plants can outcompete native species in natural ecosystems, threatening the biodiversity of a country. This study ascertained the weediness potential of plants according to the seed amount under the assumption that transgenic seeds were unintentionally spilled. Using sunflowers as the study system, 0, 50, 100, and 150 seeds were sown in 1 m × 1 m and 2 m × 2 m plots, and seed germination, survival, flowering, and competition between the surviving and wild plants were investigated. Results: There was no significant difference in the germination rate of sunflowers depending on the cultivar, but differences were observed depending on the sowing density and plot size. As the number of seeds sown increased, the flowering and seed maturation of sprouted plants occurred earlier; the plant height and flower length of the surviving plants decreased. In addition, as the number of seeds increased, not only did the early importance of sunflowers increase, but the period of dominance over weeds also improved. Conclusions: These results suggest that the weediness potential of sunflowers varies with the number of seeds at the time of release, which may affect germination and growth, and compete with weeds in transgenic plants.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.160-166
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• 2011

The purposes of this study were to analyze the weediness potential associated with 'Vitamin A enforced rice' and to evaluate the relationships between growth characteristics and environmental adaption related to survival ability in the natural environment. 'Vitamin A enforced rice', 'Nagdong', donor variety of 'Vitamin A enforced rice' and three other varieties were used for this study. The 'Vitamin A enforced rice' was experimented according to ratio of ripened grain, shattering of grain, germination traits, germination ratio of low temperature, emergence ratio after wintering, ratio of viviparity, and growth ratio after ratooning ability. 'Vitamin A enforced rice' was not significant between 'Nagdong' and other varieties in seven characters. Germination ratio was similar of Vitamin A enforced rice' and 'Nagdong', but average germination ability of was different at low temperature. Also, shattering of grain and germination ratio of alternating temperature were significant between 'Nagdong' and other varieties. These results suggested that the relationships between growth characteristics and environmental adaption in 'Vitamin A enforced rice' could be applied to the stability of weediness potential and biosafety guide in GM rice.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.190-201
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• 2022

Background: The introduction of new living modified (LM) crops may pose a latent threat to the biodiversity of each country. Here, we used sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) as a study system to investigate the potential for invasiveness of LM crops under different environmental conditions when released into a natural ecosystem in South Korea. We examined the seed germination, survival, and flowering of sunflowers under competition with wild plants at different sowing dates (March-December) and plot sizes (1 m × 1 m and 2 m × 2 m). Results: The germination rate showed a significant difference according to the sowing date. In addition, several sunflowers survived in plots with a high germination rate, which also led to a higher flowering rate. We found that the smaller the plot, the smaller the area available for inter-species competition, and the higher the number of surviving sunflower plants. The relative dominance and importance value of the species varied significantly between the sowing dates; in particular, sunflowers sown in March could compete with wild plants for longer than those sown on other sowing dates. Conclusions: These observations indicate that the potential for invasiveness of sunflowers differs depending on the environmental conditions and seed density at the time of release.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.641-646
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• 2022

There are concerns about the environmental release of living modified organism (LMO) maize created to increase yields. In fact, there are cases in which LMO crops for feed have been leaked in Korea to form autoite colonies, and concerns about LMO spill are intensifying. In this study, the possibility of environmental outflow and occurrence of native organisms was analyzed using maize feed and seeds distributed in Korea. In the evaluation of the possibility of spontaneous occurrence of maize in the event of an unintentional release of maize feed made by crushing maize, the incidence rate of maize was 0.01%, which was extremely low compared to the germination rate of maize seeds. A survey of the dormant rate of maize showed that all maize seeds collected every month were dead. In the germination rate test by temperature using Daehak wax corn and Kwangpyeongok, high germination rates were found at 20℃ and 30℃, and relatively low germination rates were found at 10℃ and 40℃. In addition, all germination tests showed a higher germination rate Daehak wax corn than Kwangpyeongok. The difference between domestic and overseas cultivation maize was confirmed through a survey on the agricultural properties of three varieties of maize. The data obtained through this experiment could be the basis for the evaluation of the weediness potential of environmental risk assessment and technology to suppress the occurrence of autoite in preparation for future LMO spills.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2013

The phenotypic traits of herbicide-tolerant transgenic rice were compared with those of wild type (Dongjin) as well as two accessions (Hwaseong-aengmi 1 and Gwangyang-aengmi 12) of weedy rice. This study was conducted to investigate whether unintentional alterations in phenotypic characteristics occurred in the transgenic rice and whether the altered traits were similar to those in the two weedy rices. All qualitative traits studied were similar in the transgenic or wild-type rice. On the other hand, awn presence, flag leaf attitude and grain color differed considerably between herbicide-tolerant transgenic rice and weedy rice. As for quantitative traits, plant height, the number of tillers per plant and shoot dry weight were significantly greater for weedy rice than transgenic or wild-type rice. Grain weight per plant and 1000-grain weight of transgenic (or wild-type) rice were significantly greater than those of weedy rice. Transgenic rice shattered less than the other rices. Amylose and protein contents in embryos of transgenic rice were significantly different from those of weedy rice. The potential for weediness of the transgenic rice may be assessed using phenotype comparison between transgenic and weedy rice as shown in this study.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.196-202
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• 2016

With increasing LM soybean import, the concern about unintentional gene flow from LM soybean to wild soybean and consequential weedy risk has been growing. Therefore, we conducted this study to characterize seed traits including germination of hybrids resulted from gene flow from LM soybean to wild soybean in comparison with their parents, LM soybean and wild soybean. Pollen-donor LM soybean seeds were much greater and heavier (about 15.0 g of 100 seed weight) than F2 hybrid (5.7 g), while pollen-recipient wild soybean and F1 hybrid seeds were smallest and lightest (about 2.5 g). F2 hybrid was brown, intermediate between yellow LM soybean seed and black wild soybean seed. These findings indicate that F1 hybrid seeds show similar characteristics with wild soybean, while F2 hybrid seeds show intermediate color and size between two parents. F2 hybrid seed showed intermediate traits between two parents in germination and dormancy rates, which were 35% and 65%, respectively. LM soybean showed no dormancy, while wild soybean showed greater than 90% dormancy. This finding indicates that F2 hybrid show intermediate characteristics in seed germination with high dormancy trait, suggesting a potential weediness of hybrids resulted from gene flow from LM soybean to wild soybean.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.567-575
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• 2024

New breeding techniques (NBT) recognize specific DNA sequences and remove, modify, or insert DNA at a desired location, and can be used to treat genetic diseases in humans or to improve the traits of livestock or crops. In this study, we conducted a comparative analysis of various agricultural traits and assessed the safety of gene transferability in third-generation genome-editing rice (OsCKq1-G₃) with T and G nucleotide insertions developed using the CRISPR/Cas9 SDN-1 method, in comparison to its parental line (Oryza sativa L., cv Ilmi). The analyzed traits included heading date, culm length, panicle length, tiller number, yield, germination rate, viviparous germination rate, shattering, after wintering seed viability, the presence of toxins and allergens. The target trait, heading date, exhibited a high significant difference of approximately 5 days. Culm length, panicle length, tiller number, yield showed no significant differences compared to the parental line. No T-DNA bands indicating gene transfer were detected. In the third generation of genome-edited rice, the T-DNA was confirmed to be eliminated as successive generations advanced through self-pollination. Through the analysis of germination rate, viviparous germination rate, shattering, and after wintering viability, we confirmed that the genome-editing rice has no potential for weediness. The ORF and amino acid sequences of the genome-editing rice did not reveal any toxins and allergens. The results of this study can be utilized as important data for the environmental risk assessment of genome-editing rice.