The speed of change in technologies like AI, genetics, computing is faster than our ability to respond. Advances now allow analysis of biological systems at the molecular level and make genetic technologies more accessible. A convergence of these fields enables new ways to work with biology. Experts like Barbara McClintock, Gurdev Khush, and Jennifer Doudna have made groundbreaking discoveries with CRISPR and gene editing that are revolutionizing our understanding and control of genetics, for better and worse. Efforts like the African Orphan Crop Consortium and African Plant Breeding Academy aim to address issues like food insecurity, stunting, and malnutrition through plant breeding.

1. The Speed of Change is Faster Than
Our Response
Howard-Yana Shapiro, PhD
Senior Fellow College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences
University of California, Davis
Distinguished Senior Fellow
Resilient Landscapes
CIFOR-ICRAF
Venture Partner
TO VC

3. “big, systematic, far-reaching”
“global, interdependent”
“non-linear”
“economic, environmental”
“personal, shared, human”

4. The speed of change is
faster than our response

5. A convergence of technologies enables us
to work with biology in entirely new ways
Analysis Genetics
Computing

6. A chip that rivals the human brain
Computing
In 2019, Cerebras Systems
unveiled a record
1.2-trillion-transistor chip. This is
about 10 times more transistors
than neurons in a human brain!
Data source: Wikipedia; Data visualization: OurWorldinData.org; Licensed under CC-BY-SA by Max Roser
Transistor
count
Cerebras

7. Analyzing biological systems at the
molecular level
Analysis
Advances in mass spectrometry
allow us to readily see almost
every molecule in a biological
system.
Adapted from Global chemical analysis of biology by mass spectrometry; Nature
Number
of
scans
per
dollar
Medium
resolution
MS,
e.g.
qTOF,
at
Core
Facility
200
400
600
800
1,000
2004 2006 2009 2012 2014 2017
0

8. Genetic technologies are now
more accessible than ever
Genetics
Advances in genetic
technologies now allow everyone
to read and write in the language
of biology.
The National Academies Press: Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology (2017) Chapter 2
U.S.
dollars
per
base
pair
10-5
10-3
10-1
101
103
1980 1985 1990 1995 2005 2015
10-7
2000 2010
dsDNA synthesis (write, word)
ssDNA synthesis (write, letter)
DNA sequencing (read)

9. Heroines, Heroes and
Humankind

10. Barbara McClintock
Cytogeneticist
“I never thought of
stopping, and I just hated
sleeping. I can't imagine
having a better life.”
Nobel Prize Laureate

11. Nobel Prize Laureate
First evidence for wandering DNA
segments came from McClintock’s
experiments with Native American
maize.
She identified changes in the color of
kernels that made sense only by
postulating that some genetic elements
move from other genome locations into
the genes for kernel color.
These transposable elements move
from one site to another in a cell’s DNA;
they are present in both prokaryotes
and eukaryotes.
Jumping genes and
transposons

12. Photo: John Doebley

13. Nitrogen fixation in a landrace of maize is supported by a
mucilage-associated diazotrophic microbiota
Allen Van Deynze ,Pablo Zamora ,Pierre-Marc Delaux ,Cristobal Heitmann †,Dhileepkumar Jayaraman,
Danielle Graham,Junko Maeda,Donald Gibson,Kevin D. Schwartz,Alison M. Berry,Srijak Bhatnagar,
Guillaume Jospin,Aaron Darling,Richard Jeannotte,Javier Lopez,Bart C. Weimer,Jonathan A. Eisen,
Howard-Yana Shapiro,Jean-Michel Ané,Alan B. Bennett
Published August 7, 2018

14. Analysis of the mucilage microbiota indicated that it was enriched in
taxa for which many known species are diazotrophic, was enriched for
homologs of genes encoding nitrogenase subunits, and harbored active
nitrogenase activity as assessed by acetylene reduction
and 15N2 incorporation assays. Field experiments in Sierra Mixe
using 15N natural abundance or 15N-enrichment assessments over
5 years indicated that atmospheric nitrogen fixation contributed
29%–82% of the nitrogen nutrition of Sierra Mixe maize.

15. Human hunger and desires are
elastic but land is non-elastic. Population growth
continues to outsmart food production.
Agriculture scientists and geneticists need to work
overtime to meet the ever-growing human need for
food
and to alleviate hunger and poverty.
World Food Prize and
Wolf Prize Laureate
Gurdev Khush
Agronomist and geneticist

16. 1985: IR-64 a high-quality,
high-yielding mega variety

17. “Tomatoes that can sit in the pantry slowly ripening for months without rotting.
Plants that can better weather climate change. Mosquitoes that are unable to
transmit malaria. Ultra-muscular dogs that make fearsome partners for police
and soldiers. Cows that no longer grow horns. These organisms might sound
far-fetched, but in fact, they already exist, thanks to gene editing. And they’re
only the beginning. As I write this, the world around us is being revolutionized
by CRISPR, whether we’re ready for it or not.”
“The power to control our species’ genetic future is awesome and terrifying.
Deciding how to handle it
may be the biggest challenge we have ever faced.”
Jennifer Doudna
Gene editing and CRISPR
Wolf Prize Laureate
Nobel Prize Laureate

18. Editing a gene using CRISPR/Cas9
Create a genetic sequence, called a
“guide RNA” that matches the piece of
DNA to be modified.
Sources: Nature News, Carl Zimmer
This sequence is added to a cell along
with Cas9 — a protein which acts like
a pair of scissors that cut the DNA.
The guide RNA hones in
on the target DNA sequence
and Cas9 cuts it out. The Cas9 and
guide RNA then exit.
Now another piece of DNA
is swapped in for the old DNA and
enzymes repair the cuts to complete
the edited DNA.
1 2 3 4

19. Genetic modification of flavone
biosynthesis in rice enhances biofilm
formation of soil diazotrophic bacteria
and biological nitrogen fixation
Dawei Yan,Hiromi Tajima,Lauren C. Cline,Reedmond
Y. Fong,Javier I. Ottaviani,Howard-Yana
Shapiro,Eduardo Blumwald
23 July 2022

20. Improving Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF)
in cereal crops is a long-sought
objective, however no successful
modification of cereal crops showing
increased BNF has been reported. Here, we
described a novel approach in which rice
plants were modified to increase the
production of compounds that stimulated
biofilm formation in soil diazotrophic
bacteria, promoted bacterial colonization of
plant tissues, improved BNF with increased
grain yield at limiting soil nitrogen contents.

21. Hunger+malnutrition=
stunting

22. 48% 5%
37%

23. Stunting caused by chronic
hunger and malnutrition =
physical, neurological,
economic loss
Stunting prevalence worldwide
© Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, Volume 57, Issue 5, October 2011, Oxford University Press
Percentage of children under 5 years old who are
moderately or severely stunted
Less than 5%
5-19%
20-29%
30-39%
40% or more
Data not available

24. Key figures in the 2019 FAO
report on Africa include
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and UN Economic Commission for Africa, February 20, 2019
59
million
30.3%
children
under age 5
affected by
stunting
13.8
million
7.1%
children
under age 5
affected by
wasting
9.7
million
5%
children
under age 5 who
are overwieight
38
percent
women of
reproductive age
affected by
anaemia
1
inevery5
20%
number of hungry
people in Africa

25. What do we need?
We need to produce plants that are bred
for nutritional value, are higher yielding,
resilient to climate change,
resistant to pests and disease, and are
water- and nutrient-use efficient.

26. The African Orphan Crop Consortium
and
The African Plant Breeding Academy
(created to solve stunting)

27. The issue: food insecurity
“Today, we are opening an Academy that will place fundamental
science, that can help in fighting chronic hunger and
malnutrition, in the hands
of many more plant breeders. This is a huge leap forward for the
diversity and resilience of African agriculture and the start of a
very different future for rural and urban food consumption
patterns.”
Howard-Yana Shapiro,
PhD
Founder, AOCC
Principal Double Helix Consulting; Senior
Fellow UC Davis; Distinguished Fellow CIFOR-
ICRAF
Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency.
NEPAD, part of the African Union, is largely
responsible for coordinating Africa's
agricultural development.
“Malnutrition can have a devastating effects on
population including high mortality and morbidity
rates and blindness among children, agricultural
labour reduction and poor quality of life.”

28. Established and expanded African
plant breeding network
with major crop consortiums, CGIAR
centers, universities, government
institutions and foundations.
Accomplishments
Forging uncommon
collaboration
to establish the foundation of The
African Orphan Crops Consortium
and The African Plant Breeding
Academy.
Openingof the African
Plant Breeding Academy at the
World Agroforestry Centre in
Nairobi in 2014.
Graduated
155Mid-Career
Plant Breeders from
37 African countries.
Over 685breeding
programs established.
Establishedresequencing and
genotyping labat the World
Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi.
Resequenced101
food crop varieties including 27
trees.
Establishment of grant
funds
for African plant breeders.

29. Uncommon collaboration

30. Demis Hassabis
Director
AlphaFold Is The Most Important
Achievement In AI—Ever

31. AlphaFold is an AI system developed
by DeepMind that predicts a protein’s 3D
structure from its amino acid sequence.
It regularly achieves astounding
accuracy.. DeepMind says that it plans
to release structures for over one
hundred million more proteins in the
coming months—that is, nearly every
protein whose genetic sequence is
known to science.

32. A convergence of technologies enables us
to work with biology in entirely new ways
AI and ML
Analysis Genetics
Computing