[Music]
[Applause]
have you given some thought to the trees
around you they seem to be constant
giants purifying all air and beautifying
our landscape I recall a giant camel
foot tree in my garden when I was
growing up we fashioned the swing to it
and my friends would come by and we
would enjoy time on that giant tree we
had a drought in South Africa and very
soon after that tree began to droop lose
vigor fall and die we see these effects
of climate change becoming more apparent
and in Africa the situation is even more
concerning as most of Africa is water
scarce over the next 80 years we expect
a reduction in rainfall up to 30% this
will affect northern and southern Africa
this will happen over natural forests
like the beautiful aloes in Namibia the
acacia trees in the Kruger National Park
and the tropical rainforests not only is
it going to be drier it’s going to be
hotter too
by the end of the 21st century we are
expecting a four degrees Celsius
increase in temperatures what does this
mean for crops well with every one
degree increase in temperature we expect
a three to five percent drop in yield
for crops as human beings we are
intimately reliance on plants for our
very existence not only do they supply
us with food with fuel
with building material but medicines to
aspirin for example is derived from the
bark of the willow tree similarly there
is massive untapped potential in plant
species around the world for medicinal
value now let’s talk about chocolate we
expect that by 2050 it may become
impossible to grow cocoa plants in the
humid areas that’s needed a future
what we need is plant resilience we need
plants that can withstand the effects of
climate change
additionally plants are also subject to
challenges with pests and pathogens and
you can imagine that when you have
warmer weather you have more conducive
environments for pathogen infection or
you could have increased life cycles for
pests so what would a world look like
without plant resilience in first world
countries our survival would be
threatened somewhat the cost of food
would triple we may have to forego a
morning cup of coffee and let’s just be
honest a world without chocolate would
be simply boring the situation in
developing countries is even more
worrying and that is because most of
these developing populations require
staple food and that’s going to come
from one or two types of crops with
these overwhelming odds we need to
embrace technologies that are developing
rapidly if we think about it the world
population grows at 7.5 billion today
and it’s expected to be 9 billion by
2050 we have to increase our food supply
by 70% to meet this world demand
in recent years we’ve been adopting
plant biotechnology advances plant
genome sequencing DNA marker technology
and genetic modification since the year
2000 scientists have been sequencing the
plant genomes from model plants that
have simple genomes to the more complex
crops such as wheat and sugarcane
scientists can now tell which genes may
be better adapted for certain conditions
like drought stress pest resistance etc
over and above the genome researchers
are looking at whether a gene is
activated so if the gene is activated
under a particular challenge for example
drought stress we understand that it is
making more proteins that are important
for plant resilience the next
biotechnology tool is the use of DNA
marker technology with this technology
regions of the genome carrying some
desirable properties are tagged and
followed in plant breeding programs
scientists are marrying both genome
sequencing technology together with DNA
marker technology and have come up with
genomic selection in this technique
associations are made for genomic
regions and desirable properties such as
drought resistance pest resistance
increased yield predictive models are
made and through an iterative process if
we have to look at the DNA itself we can
tell whether the plant is going to be
more resilient we have a better chance
the third tool is CRISPR technology with
this type of genome editing technology
we can make very precise changes to the
plant genome in some cases we may want
to remove
the effect of a susceptibility gene some
examples that already exist where we
have CRISPR edited crops close on our
way
bacterial blight resistance in maize we
have virus resistance in cucumber and we
also have other fungal resistance that’s
coming up for wheat genetic modification
is a topic fraught with controversy the
worry is that it is foreign it is
unnatural and thus unsafe but as human
beings we have been doing genetic
modification for hundreds of years
wheat for example is a hybrid between
different grass species we’ve been using
chemical reor chemical mutagenesis or
radiation and we’ve applied that to
seeds we’ve been making large and
oftentimes unknown changes to plant
genomes what is really interesting is
that genetic modification relies on a
certain type of bacterium to introduce
DNA fragments into the plant genome it
was fascinating to learn very recently
that sweet potato the sweet potato that
you feed to your baby contains the same
DNA fragments and it’s transferred by
the same bacterium but it is done by
mother nature and not at all by
scientists we hear a lot of bad press
about genetic modification but what we
don’t hear often are the positive
impacts in its very short history
genetically modified maize has resulted
in a decrease in the use of pesticides
by up to 37% an increase in crop yields
by 22% and an increase in farming by 37%
genetic modification is a biotechnology
to
that can benefit the poor and food
insecure but alas it is not accessible
to them because of regulations that stem
from fear and misconceptions in my own
work I am looking at the complex defense
network of forest trees why forest trees
these trees are lonely living organisms
they have to bear the onslaught of pests
and pathogens and the effects of climate
change during their lifetime they must
possess some remarkable resilient
mechanisms in my work I am looking at
this particular insect pest it is only
one or two millimeters big but this
little was lays her eggs on young
eucalyptus leaves and these girls
develop these girls are somewhat like
tumors or a wart in animals but the
plant becomes so burdened with these
goals that it ends up being stunted and
more like a shrub then a tall eucalyptus
tree so my team has been looking at
genomic regions that are associated with
resistance using those markers we can
now select for resistance and if we
plant those resistance trees we can now
decrease the devastation caused by this
insect pest pine species are amongst the
world’s most large drone and
unfortunately they also subject to some
kind of attack by pathogens I am looking
at a resistant pine species and a
susceptible pine species and I’m looking
at the sets of genes that are activated
what was fascinating was to see that the
resistant pine species was responding
whereas the susceptible pine species
was not at the molecular level we were
also able to see where the sly fungus is
able to suppress plant defenses along
the network so if we can now prevent the
suppression by the fungus we can produce
more resilient pine species we continue
to explore crisper cast technology to
investigate what the functions are of
various plant defense genes and we hope
to make a step change to producing
resistant trees against some major pests
and pathogens I believe that we cannot
ignore the role of plant biotechnology
in producing plant resilience as a
mother of three children my wish for
them is to live in a world where they
have enough maize for their breakfast
they have enough sweet potatoes just
about the right amount of chocolates and
of course a giant camel foot tree to
swing from we need to be adopting the
best biotechnology strategies to make
our plants stronger and we need them stronger so that we can survive
[Applause]
have you given some thought to the trees
around you they seem to be constant
giants purifying all air and beautifying
our landscape I recall a giant camel
foot tree in my garden when I was
growing up we fashioned the swing to it
and my friends would come by and we
would enjoy time on that giant tree we
had a drought in South Africa and very
soon after that tree began to droop lose
vigor fall and die we see these effects
of climate change becoming more apparent
and in Africa the situation is even more
concerning as most of Africa is water
scarce over the next 80 years we expect
a reduction in rainfall up to 30% this
will affect northern and southern Africa
this will happen over natural forests
like the beautiful aloes in Namibia the
acacia trees in the Kruger National Park
and the tropical rainforests not only is
it going to be drier it’s going to be
hotter too
by the end of the 21st century we are
expecting a four degrees Celsius
increase in temperatures what does this
mean for crops well with every one
degree increase in temperature we expect
a three to five percent drop in yield
for crops as human beings we are
intimately reliance on plants for our
very existence not only do they supply
us with food with fuel
with building material but medicines to
aspirin for example is derived from the
bark of the willow tree similarly there
is massive untapped potential in plant
species around the world for medicinal
value now let’s talk about chocolate we
expect that by 2050 it may become
impossible to grow cocoa plants in the
humid areas that’s needed a future
what we need is plant resilience we need
plants that can withstand the effects of
climate change
additionally plants are also subject to
challenges with pests and pathogens and
you can imagine that when you have
warmer weather you have more conducive
environments for pathogen infection or
you could have increased life cycles for
pests so what would a world look like
without plant resilience in first world
countries our survival would be
threatened somewhat the cost of food
would triple we may have to forego a
morning cup of coffee and let’s just be
honest a world without chocolate would
be simply boring the situation in
developing countries is even more
worrying and that is because most of
these developing populations require
staple food and that’s going to come
from one or two types of crops with
these overwhelming odds we need to
embrace technologies that are developing
rapidly if we think about it the world
population grows at 7.5 billion today
and it’s expected to be 9 billion by
2050 we have to increase our food supply
by 70% to meet this world demand
in recent years we’ve been adopting
plant biotechnology advances plant
genome sequencing DNA marker technology
and genetic modification since the year
2000 scientists have been sequencing the
plant genomes from model plants that
have simple genomes to the more complex
crops such as wheat and sugarcane
scientists can now tell which genes may
be better adapted for certain conditions
like drought stress pest resistance etc
over and above the genome researchers
are looking at whether a gene is
activated so if the gene is activated
under a particular challenge for example
drought stress we understand that it is
making more proteins that are important
for plant resilience the next
biotechnology tool is the use of DNA
marker technology with this technology
regions of the genome carrying some
desirable properties are tagged and
followed in plant breeding programs
scientists are marrying both genome
sequencing technology together with DNA
marker technology and have come up with
genomic selection in this technique
associations are made for genomic
regions and desirable properties such as
drought resistance pest resistance
increased yield predictive models are
made and through an iterative process if
we have to look at the DNA itself we can
tell whether the plant is going to be
more resilient we have a better chance
the third tool is CRISPR technology with
this type of genome editing technology
we can make very precise changes to the
plant genome in some cases we may want
to remove
the effect of a susceptibility gene some
examples that already exist where we
have CRISPR edited crops close on our
way
bacterial blight resistance in maize we
have virus resistance in cucumber and we
also have other fungal resistance that’s
coming up for wheat genetic modification
is a topic fraught with controversy the
worry is that it is foreign it is
unnatural and thus unsafe but as human
beings we have been doing genetic
modification for hundreds of years
wheat for example is a hybrid between
different grass species we’ve been using
chemical reor chemical mutagenesis or
radiation and we’ve applied that to
seeds we’ve been making large and
oftentimes unknown changes to plant
genomes what is really interesting is
that genetic modification relies on a
certain type of bacterium to introduce
DNA fragments into the plant genome it
was fascinating to learn very recently
that sweet potato the sweet potato that
you feed to your baby contains the same
DNA fragments and it’s transferred by
the same bacterium but it is done by
mother nature and not at all by
scientists we hear a lot of bad press
about genetic modification but what we
don’t hear often are the positive
impacts in its very short history
genetically modified maize has resulted
in a decrease in the use of pesticides
by up to 37% an increase in crop yields
by 22% and an increase in farming by 37%
genetic modification is a biotechnology
to
that can benefit the poor and food
insecure but alas it is not accessible
to them because of regulations that stem
from fear and misconceptions in my own
work I am looking at the complex defense
network of forest trees why forest trees
these trees are lonely living organisms
they have to bear the onslaught of pests
and pathogens and the effects of climate
change during their lifetime they must
possess some remarkable resilient
mechanisms in my work I am looking at
this particular insect pest it is only
one or two millimeters big but this
little was lays her eggs on young
eucalyptus leaves and these girls
develop these girls are somewhat like
tumors or a wart in animals but the
plant becomes so burdened with these
goals that it ends up being stunted and
more like a shrub then a tall eucalyptus
tree so my team has been looking at
genomic regions that are associated with
resistance using those markers we can
now select for resistance and if we
plant those resistance trees we can now
decrease the devastation caused by this
insect pest pine species are amongst the
world’s most large drone and
unfortunately they also subject to some
kind of attack by pathogens I am looking
at a resistant pine species and a
susceptible pine species and I’m looking
at the sets of genes that are activated
what was fascinating was to see that the
resistant pine species was responding
whereas the susceptible pine species
was not at the molecular level we were
also able to see where the sly fungus is
able to suppress plant defenses along
the network so if we can now prevent the
suppression by the fungus we can produce
more resilient pine species we continue
to explore crisper cast technology to
investigate what the functions are of
various plant defense genes and we hope
to make a step change to producing
resistant trees against some major pests
and pathogens I believe that we cannot
ignore the role of plant biotechnology
in producing plant resilience as a
mother of three children my wish for
them is to live in a world where they
have enough maize for their breakfast
they have enough sweet potatoes just
about the right amount of chocolates and
of course a giant camel foot tree to
swing from we need to be adopting the
best biotechnology strategies to make
our plants stronger and we need them stronger so that we can survive
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