Making genome editing a success story in Africa

Similar to other biotechnologies, genome editing faces substantial obstacles in Africa. These include regulatory uncertainty, restricted access to laboratories, equipment and reagents for molecular biology work, a shortage of trained professionals, and a low rate of returnees among the diaspora. There may be also minute investment: most nations commit less than 1% of their sinful domestic product (GDP) to research and building. The dependency of African institutions on external funding, unequal collaborations with the Global North and maintain an eye on of intellectual property and licensing by foreign entities additional hinder progress. Additionally, there are low ranges of integration of biotechnology in faculty and college curricula, inaccurate risk perceptions and apparent low ranges of public reinforce (normally because of the misinformation), and, as a consequence, inadequate political will.

Genome editing, in contrast to more classical genetic modification approaches, promises greater accuracy, precision, efficiency and rate-effectiveness and, in flip, a larger return on investment. In handy resource-constrained environments, reducing barriers to the genetics-based innovation equipped by genome editing may enable local innovators to be more successful in sectors that are crucial for Africa’s biotechnology-based financial building. In addition, genome editing-based health merchandise — including new gene therapies — can have a notable attain on public health.

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Acknowledgements

The publication of this article was supported by the Volkswagen Foundation (grant 95074) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (StG TMSGI3_211391/1 to T.O.A.). We thank the Volkswagen Foundation and the International Brain Research Organisation for funding the genome-editing program of TReND in Africa, J. Wittbrodt for continuous reinforce, and I. Coche and E. Rybicki for input and discussion.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

International Farm animals Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya

Hussein M. Abkallo
Wits/SAMRC Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit, Infectious Diseases and Oncology Research Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Patrick Arbuthnot
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

Thomas O. Auer
TReND in Africa, Brighton, UK

Thomas O. Auer, Vincenzo Di Donato & Lucia Prieto-Godino
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Dave Adequate. Berger
Department of Genetics, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Johan Burger
Food Safety and Safety Focal point Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mmabatho, South Africa

Ereck Chakauya
AUDA NEPAD Southern Africa Community for Biosciences (SANBio), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Advanced Agriculture and Food Cluster (AAF), Pretoria, South Africa

Ereck Chakauya
U1154 INSERM, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France

Jean-Paul Concordet
Institut de recherche en sciences de la santé (IRSS), Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Abdoulaye Diabate
ZeClinics SL. Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain

Vincenzo Di Donato
Biosafety South Africa, Somerset West, South Africa

Jan-Hendrik Groenewald
African Center for Excellence in Molecular Engineering, Bamako, Mali

Amadou Guindo
Wits Research Institute for Malaria, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Lizette L. Koekemoer
African Union Pattern Agency – NEPAD, Midrand, South Africa

Florence Nazare
Liverpool College of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK

Tony Nolan & Charles Wondji
Ifakara Health Institute, Ifakara, Tanzania

Fredros Okumu
College of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

Fredros Okumu
Pan-African Mosquito Association, (PAMCA), KEMRI Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya

Emma Orefuwa
University of Ghana, Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology Department, Accra, Ghana

Lily Paemka
The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK

Lucia Prieto-Godino
Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

Steven Runo
Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland

Marie Sadler
Bio and Emerging Technology Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Kassahun Tesfaye
Department of Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Kassahun Tesfaye
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nairobi, Kenya

Leena Tripathi
Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases, CRID, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Charles Wondji

Contributions

M.C.S. and T.O.A. analyzed data and prepared figures. E.C., V.D.D. and T.O.A. conceived the undertaking and organized the consortium. All authors contributed to the voice and read and approved the final model of the manuscript. Authors are listed in the author listing in alphabetical explain.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to
Thomas O. Auer, Ereck Chakauya or Vincenzo Di Donato.

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Competing interests

V.D.D. is an employee of ZeClinics SL, offering companies and products including genome editing. ZeClinics had no influence on the voice of this article. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Abkallo, H.M., Arbuthnot, P., Auer, T.O. et al. Making genome editing a success story in Africa.
Nat Biotechnol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02187-2

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Printed: 19 March 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02187-2

Making genome editing a success story in Africa

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