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According to the Global Times report: Seeds are known as agricultural "chips", but just as my country's chip manufacturing is still "stuck" by foreign countries, the development of my country's seed industry has always faced the risk of being controlled by foreign countries. However, the situation is changing. At the Ninth National Media GMO Reporting Salon with the theme of "Accelerating Bio-breeding Innovation and Guaranteeing National Food Security" held recently, many experts in the field of plant biology stated that the new gene editing technology can help my country's seed industry realize the "Road overtaking" makes our country's seeds more competitive.
Biological breeding is a matter of "whether the rice bowl can be held firmly in our own hands"
In recent years, international seed industry giants have continued to accelerate their deep-growing layout in China, and control the fierce growth of my country's seed industry market. More than 70 international seed companies including the top ten global seed companies have entered China, and a large number of "foreign seeds" have penetrated into my country's fields. According to the "2019 China Seed Industry Development Report", in 2018, my country imported more than 72 million kilograms of crop seeds, with an import value of 475 million US dollars, of which vegetable seeds imported 228 million US dollars from nearly 50 countries and regions. Peppers, onions, carrots, eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, and broccoli are the most common vegetables on ordinary people's tables. Many of them are grown from foreign seeds, and some are basically imported.
Zhang Wen, Second Inspector, Department of Science and Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
In this context, if you rely too much on imports, the consequences will be disastrous once the "cutting off" occurs. Zhang Wen, the second-level inspector of the Science and Technology Education Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, pointed out in a speech at the reporting salon held on the 29th that my country is the world's second largest seed industry market and a major seed industry country, but it is not a seed industry powerhouse. Zhang Wen said that at present, biological breeding technologies represented by whole-genome selective breeding, transgenic technology, gene editing, etc. have become the front and core of international breeding and are developing rapidly. Developed countries continue to increase their active layout in strengthening biological breeding technology innovation and increasing research and development of new varieties to seize opportunities in the international market. Biological breeding technology has become a strategic focus for many countries in the world to seize the commanding heights of science and technology and enhance international competitiveness.
The Central Economic Work Conference held from December 16 to 18 pointed out that the key to ensuring food security lies in the implementation of the strategy of storing grain on the ground and storing grain on technology. It is necessary to respect science, strictly supervise, promote the industrial application of biological breeding in an orderly manner, carry out research on seed source "stuck neck" technology, and be determined to fight a turnaround in the seed industry. "The development of biological breeding is a matter of whether the seed industry can make a successful turnaround and whether the Chinese people can hold their jobs firmly in their own hands. It is an inevitable choice to accelerate agricultural modernization and promote high-quality agricultural development." Zhang Wenzai delivered a speech. Said in.
Gene editing is the "4.0 version" of modern breeding technology
On October 7 this year, the Swedish Nobel Prize Committee announced that the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be awarded to the French scientist Emmanuel Charpentier and the American female scientist Jennifer Mordner in recognition of their research and development. Gene editing technology CRISPR-Cas9. In this report salon, gene editing technology is also the focus of the keynote speeches of participating experts.
Zhu Jiankang, Director of Shanghai Plant Stress Biology Research Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academician of National Academy of Sciences
Zhu Jiankang, director of the Shanghai Plant Stress Biology Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an academician of the American Academy of Sciences, gave an example of the latest and hottest CRISPR-Cas9 technology in his speech to introduce the basic principles of gene editing technology. He said that CRISPR is like a "gene scissors", and Cas9 and other Cas enzymes are endonucleases that can cut DNA. "The biggest magic of this'scissors' is that you can cut where you want it to cut, and you can precisely locate it. When the gene is'cut', the cell will repair the fracture and produce mutations, which will inactivate the gene. Therefore, it won’t work.” Zhu Jiankang said that 99.9% of gene editing is done in a “subtractive” way. A simple subtractive method produces high-yield, high-quality, disease-resistant varieties.
Both gene editing and transgenic technology have changed the genes of organisms. Are they the same thing? In this regard, Li Jiayang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Genetics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, defined the difference between gene editing and transgenic technology in his speech. He introduced that gene editing has eliminated the part of transgenic breeding technology that everyone is worried about, that is, inserting foreign genes into the genome, and directly changes the genes of the organism. He uses the analogy of modifying an article. After an article is written, someone needs to help modify it. "When editing, if you insert a large paragraph into the article, it is genetically modified, and gene editing is equivalent to only one or a few words. Modifications have been made.” Li Jiayang said, this modification has no major impact on the overall structure of the article, but the significance of the key parts of the article is different.
Li Jiayang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and researcher of the Institute of Genetics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Li Jiayang said that among biological breeding technologies, mutation breeding, cross breeding, molecular marker-assisted selection breeding, and transgenic breeding are all 2.0 or 3.0 technologies. Gene editing technology is currently the highest level of technology, and the global breeding industry is competing. The commanding heights should be called the "4.0 version" of modern breeding technology.
"It is completely possible to make our country's seeds competitive"
Although the CRISPR-Cas9 technology is very powerful, the patents for this technology are currently in the hands of foreign scientists. In the future, will Chinese researchers use this technology for gene editing, will there be a risk of "stuck necks"? In this regard, Zhu Jiankang pointed out in his speech that this possibility does exist, but at the same time it can be resolved. Because in addition to the foreign patented CRISPR-Cas9, there are also technologies such as Cas12a, Cas12b, Cas12i, Cas12j, and Cas14, which can bypass Cas9. "Especially Cas12i and Cas12j, these two Chinese technologies will soon have patents, so that there is no need to rely on foreign Cas9 patents, which has laid a solid foundation for solving the "stuck neck" problem in the field of life sciences." Zhu Jiankang Say.
A large part of the reason why foreign seeds can be "popular" in my country's seed industry market is that crops grown from foreign seeds are indeed more "beatable" than domestic seeds in terms of yield, disease resistance, appearance, and taste. But in recent years, domestic seeds have been catching up to improve their "core competitiveness."
Zhu Jiankang said that in recent years, our country has done a lot of work in the research and industrial application of gene editing technology, and there are many very good accumulations. His team used gene editing technology to cultivate "high-yield rice", "scented corn", "super high vitamin C lettuce", "high oleic rape", "high anthocyanin content tomato", and "anti- A series of new varieties such as "browning potatoes".
In an interview with a reporter from the Global Times, Zhu Jiankang said that if we rely on traditional breeding, it will take many years to catch up with the technological level of foreign seed industries, but new gene editing technology can allow us to do it faster. "Using this technology, we can truly overtake the seed industry and make our country's seeds competitive. It is entirely possible."
Li Jiayang also said that China is very strong in basic research in plant science and crop science, and in many aspects it is not far behind the international advanced level. Rice is even more advanced in the world. Although in some controlled key technologies, such as the field of gene editing, the core technology is still in the hands of European and American countries, my country is also developing rapidly, especially in the field of plant gene editing technology, which has many patents. Can give us support to a certain extent.
Regarding the future outlook of the development of my country’s seed industry, Zhu Jiankang told the Global Times reporter that in the future, in the field of gene editing technology industrialization, once there is clear policy support, we can apply gene editing technology to agricultural breeding. A few years later, many of our country's seeds will not only need not be dependent on foreign countries, but can also be exported back to foreign countries."