MacCormick C A, Griffin H G, Underwood H M, Gasson M J
Institute of Food Research, Colney, UK.
J Appl Microbiol. 1998 Jun;84(6):969-80. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2672.1998.00429.x.
Foods produced by genetic engineering technology are now appearing on the market and many more are likely to emerge in the future. The safety aspects, regulation, and labelling of these foods are still contentious issues in most countries and recent surveys highlight consumer concerns about the safety and labelling of genetically modified food. In most countries it is necessary to have approval for the use of genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs) in the production of food. In order to police regulations, a technology to detect such foods is desirable. In addition, a requirement to label approved genetically modified food would necessitate a monitoring system. One solution is to 'tag' approved GMOs with some form of biological or genetic marker, permitting the surveillance of foods for the presence of approved products of genetic engineering. While non-approved GMOs would not be detected by such a surveillance, they might be detected by a screen for DNA sequences common to all or most GMOs. This review focuses on the potential of using common DNA sequences as detection probes for GMOs. The identification of vector sequences, plant transcription terminators, and marker genes by PCR and hybridization techniques is discussed.
采用基因工程技术生产的食品目前已出现在市场上，未来可能还会出现更多。在大多数国家，这些食品的安全性、监管及标签问题仍是有争议的话题，近期的调查凸显了消费者对转基因食品安全性及标签的担忧。在大多数国家，使用基因改造生物生产食品必须获得批准。为了监管相关规定，需要一种检测此类食品的技术。此外，对获批转基因食品进行标签标注的要求将需要一个监测系统。一种解决方案是用某种形式的生物或基因标记对获批的转基因生物进行“标记”，以便对食品中是否存在获批的基因工程产品进行监测。虽然这种监测无法检测出未经批准的转基因生物，但通过对所有或大多数转基因生物共有的DNA序列进行筛查，可能会检测出它们。本文综述聚焦于使用共同DNA序列作为转基因生物检测探针的潜力。讨论了通过聚合酶链式反应（PCR）和杂交技术鉴定载体序列、植物转录终止子和标记基因的方法。
