Putting CRISPR into African hands to future-proof crops
to learn techniques for developing new crop traits. The idea was inspired by World Agroforestry senior advisor Howard-Yana Shapiro and Jennifer Doudna from the Innovative Genomics Institute at the University of California, Berkeley after a celebration of the latter’s 2020 Nobel Prize, during which Shapiro presented the challenges of using CRISPR for humanitarian purposes, including eliminating malnutrition-related impaired growth and development in African children.
“These people will return to their national labs and do capacity building, and I think that that is a sustainable model for the democratization of this technology,” says Evan Groover, a PhD candidate at the IGI and a teacher of the course. Many agricultural crops in Africa remain neglected by both traditional crop breeding and modern biotechnology research, notes Rita Mumm from the University of Illinois, resource mobilization director of the African Orphan Crops Consortium, which is involved in delivering the course. “There are so many traits, including shelf life and nutritional aspects, that could benefit greatly from CRISPR gene editing approaches,” she says.
and eliminating the integrated endogenous banana streak virus from the genome. “We will provide practical hands-on training based on the banana gene editing system, which is well-established in my lab,” she says. Participants will also be encouraged to think of crops and traits in their own countries to which they can apply the technology. “This course is very timely and very important,” she says.
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