Establishment and evaluation of event-specific qualitative and quantitative PCR method for genetically modified soybean DP-356043-5

Development and application of a multi-targeting reference plasmid as calibrator for analysis of five genetically modified soybean events

Reference materials are important in accurate analysis of genetically modified organism (GMO) contents in food/feeds, and development of novel reference plasmid is a new trend in the research of GMO reference materials. Herein, we constructed a novel multi-targeting plasmid, pSOY, which contained seven event-specific sequences of five GM soybeans (MON89788-5', A2704-12-3', A5547-127-3', DP356043-5', DP305423-3', A2704-12-5', and A5547-127-5') and sequence of soybean endogenous reference gene Lectin. We evaluated the specificity, limit of detection and quantification, and applicability of pSOY in both qualitative and quantitative PCR analyses. The limit of detection (LOD) was as low as 20 copies in qualitative PCR, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) in quantitative PCR was 10 copies. In quantitative real-time PCR analysis, the PCR efficiencies of all event-specific and Lectin assays were higher than 90%, and the squared regression coefficients (R(2)) were more than 0.999. The quantification bias varied from 0.21% to 19.29%, and the relative standard deviations were from 1.08% to 9.84% in simulated samples analysis. All the results demonstrated that the developed multi-targeting plasmid, pSOY, was a credible substitute of matrix reference materials, and could be used as a reliable reference calibrator in the identification and quantification of multiple GM soybean events.

Development of an event-specific hydrolysis probe quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for Embrapa 5.1 genetically modified common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)

A genetically modified (GM) common bean event, namely Embrapa 5.1, resistant to the bean golden mosaic virus (BGMV), was approved for commercialization in Brazil. Brazilian regulation for genetically modified organism (GMO) labeling requires that any food containing more than 1% GMO be labeled. The event-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method has been the primary trend for GMO identification and quantitation because of its high specificity based on the flanking sequence. This work reports the development of an event-specific assay, named FGM, for Embrapa 5.1 detection and quantitation by use of SYBR Green or hydrolysis probe. The FGM assay specificity was tested for Embrapa 2.3 event (a noncommercial GM common bean also resistant to BGMV), 46 non-GM common bean varieties, and other crop species including maize, GM maize, soybean, and GM soybean. The FGM assay showed high specificity to detect the Embrapa 5.1 event. Standard curves for the FGM assay presented a mean efficiency of 95% and a limit of detection (LOD) of 100 genome copies in the presence of background DNA. The primers and probe developed are suitable for the detection and quantitation of Embrapa 5.1.

Loop-linker PCR: an advanced PCR technique for genome walking

In this article, we developed a novel PCR method, termed loop-linker PCR, to isolate flanking sequences in transgenic crops. The novelty of this approach is its use of a stem-loop structure to design a loop-linker adapter. The adapter is designed to form a nick site when ligated with restricted DNA. This modification not only can prevent the self-ligation of adapters but also promotes the elongation of the 3' end of the loop-linker adapter to generate a stem-loop structure in the ligation products. Moreover, the suppressive effect of the stem-loop structure decreases nonspecific amplification and increases the success rate of the approach; all extension products will suppress exponential amplification except from the ligation product that contains the specific primer binding site. Using this method, 442, 1830, 107, and 512 bp left border flanking sequences were obtained from the transgenic maizes LY038, DAS-59122-7, Event 3272, and the transgenic soybean MON89788, respectively. The experimental results demonstrated that loop-linker PCR is an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective method for identifying flanking sequences in transgenic crops and could be applied for other genome walking applications.