#26 Deeptech Insights - Unleashing the Future of Agriculture: The Game-Changing Rise of Genomics-Assisted Breeding
DeepTech Innovations Unlocked: This Week Our Expert News Analysis for Smarter Business and Investment Decisions
By Vishal Katariya, (Deep Science and Technology Investments, Ankur Capital)
Securing the world’s food supply against existential threats by adopting new-age plant breeding methods.
What is going on?
The breeding, development and stabilization of new crop varieties has been one of the most fundamental processes in agriculture for centuries now. Conventional plant breeding techniques come with a few disadvantages, primarily that variety development can take over a decade, which in turn also makes it an expensive process. Now, however, we can sequence a plant’s genome and analyse its growth and behavior at a more granular level. The explosion in sequencing techniques and bioinformatics, as well as the ability to manipulate large datasets has led to the advent of a new paradigm: genomics-assisted breeding (GAB).
GAB relies on genomic data, and after rice was first sequenced in 2006, an enormous amount of plant genomic data has been collected. The availability of this data has led to improved gene-mapping strategies, in particular in our ability to map genomic data to phenomic performance. This understanding has accelerated the process of trait discovery, which in turn has made possible breeding plants with the express need to improve a very specific trait, e.g., breeding a new rice variety to have more amylose content.
These advances have gone hand-in-hand with an ever-increasing need for better seeds and crop varieties, whether it is to make them higher yielding to cater to an expanding population, more climate resilient with the onset of anthropomorphic climate change, or to guard them against a plethora of pests.
GAB can take one of two broad forms: the first is a highly advanced version of conventional varietal creation that results from crossing certain parents, and the second is in genetically modifying plants directly with the aim of introducing beneficial traits. Both approaches are hugely versatile, and novel traits can be bred into crops even without genetic engineering. For example, HarvestPlus, an international research program has produced hybrid corn varieties that reduce vitamin A deficiency.
There have been over 130 publicly bred cultivars since the advent of the GAB paradigm, with some of the highlights being rice with bacterial blight and blast resistance, and wheat with rust resistance. In the private domain, of course, there have been many more. There are a number of companies, both large and small, that have developed proprietary technologies and platforms that use and leverage new-age breeding technologies.
What does it mean?
Genomics-assisted breeding techniques have rapidly matured in the past decade and have been adopted by a number of private players, consisting both of large agritech companies as well as smaller and newer startups. This promises to kickstart a new age in seed development, where new crop varieties will address specific requirements and will be created far more quickly than they are now.
Most recently, Syngenta, one of the world’s leading agtech companies, announced a partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks for screening a targeted genetic library for novel trait discovery, ultimately resulting in healthier and more resilient crops in the field. Many companies have developed platforms which combine data science and machine learning with plant genetics, some of which are Benson Hill’s CropOS, Inari Agriculture’s SEEDesign, Cibus’ Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS), as well as Piatrika Biosystems which is based in India.
Aside from full-stack solutions, so to speak, some companies are focusing on some specific niches in new-age plant breeding. For example, Rootility, an Israeli company, develops and uses innovative root-focused plant breeding methods which it most famously demonstrated in field-grown tomatoes. Solynta, a company based in the Netherlands, has pioneered some of the world’s first F1 hybrid potatoes using its patented technology.
Why should I care?
💸For markets: the GAB Revolution is here to stay.
There is a huge opportunity for larger and smaller agricultural players to participate in the GAB revolution, and obtain a lucrative return for their efforts. While the core framework marries computational and genomic techniques, many private players are building on top of it to approach the problem statement in a number of ways.
🧑🏿🤝🧑🏻For society: Impact on Climate Change.
Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity now, and maintaining a steady supply of staple crops is imperative to climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. Society stands to gain from improving the fundamental processes associated with agricultural practices that are key to our survival and growth.
🔮What’s next?
As deployment of GAB techniques ramps up across the world, regulation is slowly keeping pace. It is heartening to see industrial and commercial development taking place while incorporating the latest technological advances, as well as with participation from various stakeholders: governments and regulating bodies, farmers and seed breeders, venture capitalists, and large agricultural companies.
Note: Read more about Ankur Capital and our work in deep science technologies here: https://www.ankurcapital.com/techsprouts
✨ That’s all for today. Thanks for reading ! Stay tuned for our next article coming up end of week with our Deeptech Insights Newsletter.
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