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What is happening in agriscience today that we will be talking about 100 years from now? While it’s impossible to answer that question with certainty, there is a technology that has the potential to impact our industry in the next century as much or even more than hybridization changed the game over the past century. That technology is genome editing. The promise of this technology is very real and today you’re going to hear firsthand accounts of what changed in 2012 and 2013 to make all of this possible, what did it look like to test the technology in plant breeding, and what does the strategy look like to turn this science into better solutions.
“In 2012, we had the seminal paper from Jennifer Doudna, and the entire scientific community was getting very excited with how we could use a technology like CRISPR gene editing to precisely rewrite DNA to get to the end outcome that we want much faster than before… The question we were asking in Pioneer was, yes, we have the technology, and every week you see new improvements in efficiencies of the technology, but where do you apply it?” - Nandini Krishnamurthy, Ph.D.
In this episode, we go behind the scenes to peek into how genome editing arrived on the scene in agriculture, where it stands currently, and why many scientists are calling it a revolutionary technology. Joining us are two people that have been a part of the emergence of CRISPR, the powerful tool that enables scientists to edit the DNA of living organisms. Dr. Nandini Krishnamurthy is the director of external technologies and gene editing ecosystem development at Corteva Agriscience. She has a background in genetics and cell biology and after finishing her PhD at Texas A&M, she focused on computational biology. Also joining us is Dr. Neal Gutterson. Gutterson has a background in executive leadership with biotechnology companies and joined Pioneer in 2014 as the vice president of research and development. He was instrumental in laying the groundwork for genome editing in plant breeding.
“ To be able to fashion the strategy around how we would use and deploy genome editing in, you know, biotech/breeding, but then also how we position it in terms of the marketplace and farmers and other companies seemed like an incredible opportunity. ” - Neal Gutterson, Ph.D.
By proving the concept, communicating with the public and allowing access to the technology, a lot of the groundwork for gene editing in agriculture was already starting to be formed. However, the big question many of you still may be wondering is: what do the farmers think of this? For this we’ll turn back to the farmer we featured on episode 28 of this podcast: Corey Loesson. And while he doesn’t speak for all farmers, it’s safe to assume it echoes the perspective of many if not most out there.
“ We're really talking about accelerated plant breeding, which plant breeding has been going on since agriculture started really, you know, centuries. And we're just getting better at it. And that better part enables us to produce food more efficiently ultimately. ” - Corey Loesson
A few takeaways from this episode:
- This technology is revolutionary and it’s here. There is a strong case to be made that with the right regulatory framework, this could be every bit as game-changing in the next century as hybridization was in the past century.
- This is not GMO 2.0 - it’s advanced breeding. These are two distinctly different approaches, but we also have some lessons learned from transgenics with regards to communication and engagement that I think will be important for the emergence of this biotechnology in crops.
- While farmers are not growing gene edited crops today, there has already been tremendous progress made toward utilizing this technology for their benefit. The difference between cooking a meal and serving it as Nandini said. We truly are at the end of the beginning and ready to enter this next chapter of commercially available gene edited crops.
Agriscience Explained is brought to you by Corteva Agriscience and hosted by Tim Hammerich. This show is produced by Clint Pilcher, Rayda Krell and Ann Leonard. Jaime Hammerich helps to edit these podcasts, and the music was composed by Dmitri Volkov. Subscribe for more Agriscience Explained: From Science to Solutions.
