GMO (genetically modified organism) is an organism whose genetic material has been modified through genetic engineering techniques known as ‘recombinant technology’ which consists of creating a kind of artificial DNA by joining different sequences and then the introduction of this related DNA into an existing organismal DNA for different purposes such as producing genetically modified (GM)  foods. Even though animal products have been genetically altered, typically modified foods are mostly transgenic plant products, which are named GM plants (GMPs), such as soybean, maize, canola and cottonseed oil and etc.

There are several common pros and cons of GMOs considered in our life. The probable advantages of GMOs are; agricultural-increased yield, environmental-reduced use of pesticides, herbicides, and fuel, improved nutritional quality of foods and disease prevention foods that working like vaccines that are safe to eat. On the other hand, there are disadvantages of GMOs which may be; exposure to possible allergens and toxins, harm to environment, antibiotic resistance, and the spread of introduced genes to non-target plants by outcrossing and pollen drift.

Lately, the production and commercialization of GM crops  ( more than 20 GM crops–http://www.agbios.com/main.php) and derived food products in the market of different countries cause increasing concerns about biosafety worldwide, which results in different regulations for different countries. Key elements are needed for the achievement of the approvals include monitoring the GMO and labelling, as for monitoring consists of achievability of suitable sampling, reference material, and analytical methods for exact determination of GMO component (1). The most common practical analytical method is targeting the genetic modification itself, i.e. modified DNA, by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which can be applied to different samples from different levels of processing in high levels of specificity (2).

The detection of the GMO content using PCR-based methods can be classified into two methods as qualitative and quantitative detection systems.

References

1) Querci M, Paoletti C, and Van den Eede G (2007) In: Craig W (ed) Collection of biosafety reviews. International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Trieste
2) Holst-Jensen A (2007) In: Pico Y (ed) Food toxicants analysis. Techniques, strategies and developments. Elsevier, Amsterdam