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[SANET-MG] two important new papers



The first of these two papers deals with further evidence that soy food leaves gene fragments in the organs of animals including mammals and fish. The second article shows that transgenic DNA in soy is often scrambled leading to read through producing novel products of yet undetermined toxicity to those eating the soy. The DNA fragments may also produce untoward consequences such as read through in the tissues of those eating GM soy.
European Food Research and Technology
DOI: 10.1007/s00217-005-1160-1
Issue: Volume 221, Date: July 2005
Pages: 1 - 8
Dietary DNA in blood and organs of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)
Christer Røss Nielsen1, Knut G. Berdal1, Anne Marie Bakke-McKellep2 and Arne Holst-Jensen1

Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the uptake of dietary DNA into blood, kidney, and liver of salmon, and to determine the DNA fragment size if dietary DNA was detected. Salmon in groups of five fish were force-fed a feed containing a high copy number of three polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified DNA fragments. Tissue samples were dissected from the fish at time intervals starting at 1 h after force-feeding (AFF) and ending at 64 h AFF. Real-time PCR analyses were used to determine the presence or absence of DNA targets. Sensitive methods amplifying small fragments were used to minimise the impact of fragmentation on the detectability of DNA targets. Uptake of dietary DNA was observed and the highest concentrations of dietary DNA in liver and kidney were found 8 h AFF. The results correspond to data published for similar trials performed on other animal species. An additional experiment showed that decontamination of the liver surface by flaming has the potential to decrease DNA contamination from, for example, feed remnants by up to 90%.

European Food Research and Technology
DOI: 10.1007/s00217-004-1064-5
Issue: Volume 220,
Date: March 2005 Pages: 438 - 443
Detection of RNA variants transcribed from the transgene in Roundup Ready soybean
Andreas Rang1, , Bettina Linke and Bärbel Jansen

Abstract The acreage for genetically modified crops (GMOs)—particularly soybean—has steadily increased since 1996, when the first crop of Roundup Ready soybean (intended for food production) was grown. The Roundup Ready soybean varieties derive from a soybean line into which a glyphosate-resistant enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate-synthase (EPSPS) gene was introduced. The inserted and the flanking regions in Roundup Ready soybean have recently been characterized. It was shown that a further 250-bp fragment of the epsps gene is localized downstream of the introduced nos terminator of transcription, derived from the nopaline synthase gene from Agrobacterium tumefaciens. We examined whether this 250-bp fragment could be of functional importance. Our data demonstrate that at least 150 bp of this DNA region are transcribed in Roundup Ready soybean. Transcription of the fragment depends on whether read-through events ignore the nos terminator signal located upstream. Our data also indicate that the read-through product is further processed, resulting in four different RNA variants from which the transcribed region of the nos terminator is completely deleted. Deletion results in the generation of open reading frames which might code for (as yet unknown) EPSPS fusion proteins. The nos terminator is used as a regulatory element in several other GMOs used for food production. This implies that read through products and transcription of RNA variants might be a common feature in these GMOs.

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