Making genome editing a success story in Africa

Similar to other biotechnologies, genome editing faces substantial obstacles in Africa. These include regulatory uncertainty, limited 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 is also little investment: most countries devote less than 1% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to research and development. The dependency of African institutions on external funding, unequal collaborations with the Global North and control of intellectual property and licensing by foreign entities further hinder progress. Additionally, there are low levels of integration of biotechnology in school and university curricula, inaccurate risk perceptions and apparent low levels of public support (often due to misinformation), and, as a consequence, inadequate political will.

Genome editing, in contrast to more classical genetic modification approaches, promises greater accuracy, precision, efficiency and cost-effectiveness and, in turn, a better return on investment. In resource-constrained environments, reducing barriers to the genetics-based innovation offered by genome editing could enable local innovators to be more successful in sectors that are crucial for Africa’s biotechnology-based economic development. In addition, genome editing-based health products — including novel gene therapies — can have a notable effect 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 support, and I. Coche and E. Rybicki for input and discussion.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

International Livestock 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 K. Berger

Department of Genetics, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Johan Burger

Food Security and Safety Focus Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Mmabatho, South Africa

Ereck Chakauya

AUDA NEPAD Southern Africa Network 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 Development Agency – NEPAD, Midrand, South Africa

Florence Nazare

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK

Tony Nolan & Charles Wondji

Ifakara Health Institute, Ifakara, Tanzania

Fredros Okumu

School 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 project and organized the consortium. All authors contributed to the content and read and approved the final version of the manuscript. Authors are listed in the author list in alphabetical order.

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 services including genome editing. ZeClinics had no influence on the content 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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Published: 19 March 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02187-2

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