Testing Safety of Genetically Modified Products of Rice: Case Study on Sprague Dawley Rats

Genetic engineering is considered as background for crop protection against pest damage by adding new genes inside the grains. Rice, like other cereals is included in gene engineering experiments. The questions about possible gene transfer related to food safety appear. It is important to find any additional genes or fragments in animal tissues after consumption of genetically modified (GM) food. Therefore, in this study, the remaining of CryIA(b) gene and P35 were assessed in the liver of rats fed with GM rice. This work presents an experimental study with the intervention of GM rice feeding by Sprague Dawley rats. Overall, 20 male and 20 female SD rats were fed by pellets made by GM rice in 50% of needed carbohydrate for 90 days. Then, sampling was done from rats liver. DNA extraction was done based on the protocol. The quality and quantity of the extracted DNA was done by agarose gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry, respectively. Detection of GM genes residues, including CryIA(b), P35, and T35 was done by Polymerase Chain Reaction using specific primer pairs. The results were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis alongside with 50 bp DNA ladder. The results were compared with the ones in control groups with feeding by standard pellet of non-modified rice. All amplification tests were done in triplicates. Analysis of the amplification of P35, CryIA(b) and T35 showed no residues inside the liver tissue. The results showed no significant difference in the presence of transgenic gene of cryIA(b), T35, and P35 in the liver tissue between the control and experiment groups. Therefore, this study rejects the possibility of gene settle of GM rice gene residues in liver tissue of the animal model studied.