Building on 50 years
breeding innovations
Genome Editing: A Disruptive Technology
for Accelerating Breeding
CIAT, October 17, 2017

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CIAT’s mission: To reduce hunger and
poverty, and improve human nutrition in the
tropics through research aimed at increasing
the eco-efficiency of agriculture
CIAT: A partner in global research for
a global food-secure future

Colombia-CIAT: A very special relationship
Colombian Government, U. Nacional, Colombian Personalities and American
Foundations, played a key role in the creation of CIAT
In 1966 Lewis M. Roberts and Lowell Hardin
of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford
Foundation propose to establish a center for
international research in Colombia
In 1967, CIAT was created with the support of
the Colombian Government. The Colombian
founders were Virgilio Barco, Armando
Samper and Pedro Navas
Since 1968, the Minister of Agriculture, the
Rector of the National University and the
Director of CORPOICA are members of the

CIAT benefited greatly from
Colombian breeding programs
ICA Pijao developed by ICA breeders: Luis Camacho, Silvio
Hugo Orozco, Gilberto Bastidas, Luis Buitrago, Edgar
Guzman and Orlando Agudelo
Peter Jennings worked closely in Palmira with ICA and
FedeArroz before starting IRRI breeding program
Both Peter Jennings and Silvio Hugo Orozco joined
CIAT rice and bean programs

50 years of CIAT breeding innovations
for Rice, Bean, Cassava and Brachiaria
CIAT Breeders-Geneticisits
RICE: Peter Jennings, Cesar Martinez, Elcio Guimaraes, James Gibbons, Surapon Sarkarung, Marc Chatel,
Edgar Torres, Cecile Grenier, Eduardo Graterol, Yolima Ospina, Hector Weeraratne, Carlos Brussone,
Manuel Rosero, Luis Eduardo Berrio, Yamid Sanabria, Federcio Cuevas. Jaime Borrero, Édgar Corredor,
Gonzalo Zorrilla, Joe Tohme, Maria Fernanda Alvarez, Mathias Lorieux
BEAN: Steve Beebe, Steve Temple, Cesar Cajiao, Shree Singh, Julia Kornegay, Jeremy Davis, David
Allen, Daniel Debouck, Silvio Hugo Orosco, Howard Gridley, Peter Hanson, Guillermo Hernandez Bravo,
Rogelio Lepiz, Oswaldo Voysest, Mike Dessert, Barry Smithson, Jim Nienhuis, Matt Blair, Bodo Ratz, Clare
Mukankusi, Rowland Chirwa
CASSAVA: Kazuo Kawano, Clair Hershey, Carlos Iglesias, Hernan Ceballos, Luis A. Beccerra, Martin
Fregene, Meredith Bonierbale, Stef DeHan,
BRACHIARIA: Rainer Schultze Kraft, John Miles, Margaret Worthington, Valheria Castiblanco,

The Rice Green Revolution
A new plant architecture for higher yield
TraditionalSemi - dwarf Peter Jennings developed IR8 at IRRI and
brought it to Latin America…
revolutionized rice production

Foundation for impacts
• Iron bio-fortified beans
 Reduce anemia: study with women in Rwanda
• Beans that beat the heat
 Tolerate +3°C  5% instead of 60% reduction
in growth area in Africa by 2050
• Climate-smart pastures
 Brachiaria humidicola: inhibits nitrification 
less greenhouse gases and NO3
- runoff
• Cassava-based livelihoods
 New income source for farmers in southeast
Asia: $10B market from starch

Yield Trends Are Insufficient
to Double Global Crop Production by 2050
Ray DK, Mueller ND, West PC, Foley JA (2013) Yield Trends Are Insufficient to Double Global Crop Production by 2050. PLoS ONE 8(6): e66428.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066428
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0066428

Where yield increase will come from?
CIAT strategies
Closing yield gap via:
• Agronomical revolution (FLAR)
• Reducing post harvest losses (Cassava)
• Protecting yield gain
• Precision phenotyping (WUE, NUE, Root architecture)
Breeding – Accelerating Genetic Gain
• Novel breeding strategies (GS, Haploids, NAM, MAGIC)
• Intregrating Genome Sequencing
• Uses of Wild species
• Hybrids
• Genome Editing

Genome Editing for Accelerating breeding
Current work at CIAT
• Gene function discovery
• Alleles mining from wild species
• Disease resistancew
• Use for quality- Nutrition traits
• Yield productivity traits
• Novel Hybrids systems

Reprogramming CRISPRs for disease diagnostics –
Specific High Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter Un LOCKing (SHERLOCK)
Science April 2017
Genome Editing for Accelerating Diagnostics
SHERLOCK: New Disruptive Technology
Collaboration CIAT- Broad Institute established

Internal Capacity Building on Genome Editing
NIAS/NARO -CIAT Collaborations on CRISPR
Hands on Training workshop for CIAT (April 20-May 1, 2015)

Partners Capacity Building on Genome Editing

STEWARDSHIP
STEWARDSHIP
STEWARDSHIP

CIAT GENOME EDITING PLATFORMS
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION
Expertise in Tissue Culture,
Molecular Biology, Genetic
Transformation and
bioinformatics
Lab, Greenhouses and Fields to
conduct confined biosafety field
trials
Strong Stewardship
First prize in the poster session -at
the sixth congress of the Seed
Association of the Americas (SAA)
in Cartagena, Sept 5-7, 2017