Dr. Frank O'Mara:

I thank the Chairman for his good wishes. I have two colleagues to assist me this evening Dr. Ewen Mullins and Mr. John Spink.

The process of breeding high-performance varieties is dependent on the ability to generate and exploit genetic diversity within breeding populations. The more diverse the population the greater the chance of identifying a highly valued trait for farmers, processors and consumers. For over 70 years mutagenesis has been an established method of generating that diversity.

By treating seeds or plants with radiation or chemical mutagens, mutagenesis changes the function of thousands of genes in a plant. Consequently, this changes how the plant performs. By evaluating tens of thousands of plants over several years, new varieties with enhanced performance or quality can be identified.

A key problem with mutagenesis is that the process is purely random and induces thousands of other unwanted genetic changes in the variety, which are not required. In contrast, gene editing is a precision breeding technique which makes it possible to enhance the performance of an organism via a targeted approach that changes a single gene at a time.

This is achieved using a molecular technique termed CRISPR-Cas, which is composed of two parts, a "molecular scissors" used to cut the DNA an, a molecular "satnav" to guide the scissors to the specific gene. Together these two parts form the CRISPR-Cas machinery that can be used to modify a single gene or indeed if necessary, tens of genes at the same time.

What does this mean in practical terms? Looking to crop breeding for example, editing now allows breeders to deliver a range of traits such as yield enhancement, disease resistance or quality improvement. An important point to make is that editing an existing variety enhances the value of that variety for the farmer or the processor, without changing any of the other traits of the original variety.

For example, many existing potato varieties meet the requirements for processing and baking but lack durable resistance to late blight disease. Because of this susceptibility to late blight, the potato crop requires approximately 12 fungicide sprays per year. Editing provides breeders with the toolbox to make precise changes to the potato DNA and increase resistance to late blight and other potato diseases, without compromising any of the important qualities of the variety.

Another recently reported example describes how editing a single gene in wheat, the MLO gene, can deliver a wheat variety with resistance to mildew. In its natural state, this gene makes wheat susceptible to mildew, which can decrease yield potential. By editing the MLO gene, the researchers turned off the MLO gene and hence enhanced the existing variety giving it resistance to an important disease, without affecting the variety’s yield potential. This is simply not possible using conventional breeding techniques, such as mutagenesis, when every step in the breeding process will alter thousands of genes at a time.

This highlights the precision of the editing technique. Compared with humans, who have approximately 24,000 genes, there are more than 300,000 genes in wheat. Having the ability to precisely disrupt a single gene among 300,000 is groundbreaking and illustrates the power of editing as a breeding tool.

As members know, in 2019 the European Commission published the Green Deal.

As part of that, the farm-to-fork strategy aims for a 50% reduction in the use of chemical inputs and a 20% decrease in nutrient inputs on cropping systems. As it takes on average ten years to develop a new cereal variety and up to 13 years for a potato variety, if we are to meet farm-to-fork goals, all available innovations, technologies and tools must be considered.

The potential of new breeding techniques is real. For example, I point to the field experiment carried out at Oak Park from 2013 to 2015 as part of an EU-funded project led by Dr. Mullins. That work assessed the impact of a blight-resistant potato variety generated using a new breeding technique. With this novel potato variety, fungicide applications were reduced from 12 sprays to two sprays per season, hence maintaining the sustainability of the crop and demonstrating how farm-to-fork ambitions can be achieved.

An important remit of Teagasc is to investigate the potential impact of novel technologies on the performance and sustainability of the agrifood sector. Editing is but one application of technology that has the potential to assist in the breeding of novel crop varieties and animal breeds. Currently we are using several genomics-based techniques within conventional breeding programmes to improve productivity and underpin farmer returns. One of these is marker-assisted selection, which is much like the economic breeding index, EBI, in cattle. However, although these can improve the rate of genetic improvement, it is still a slow process.

A judgment of the European Court of Justice in 2018 ruled that organisms generated through editing must be regarded as genetically modified organisms, GMOs, within the meaning of EU Directive 2001/18. At a practical level, this means a novel crop variety developed through editing is technically defined as a GMO and hence must pass through the regulatory system within the EU prior to its commercialisation. As has been well documented, this process is both lengthy and extremely expensive. However, since the European Court of Justice ruling in 2018, the European Food Safety Authority concluded that editing techniques do not pose any more hazards than conventional breeding. A multitude of scientific organisations across the EU have arrived at a similar conclusion.

To conclude, Teagasc is not in the business of commercialising or promoting genetically modified crops. We are responsible for supporting the profitability and environmental sustainability of the sector. To achieve this, it is incumbent on us to investigate and assess the impact of new scientific developments, be they positive or negative, so that the relevant sectors and society as a whole can make a decision based on objective information specific to Ireland.

We are happy to answer any questions members may have.