Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A GROUP of biotechnology lecturers and students from Lupane State University (LSU) have authored a book on how to modify the genomes of organisms, a technology they say can be used to mitigate the effects of climate change and enhance productivity.
The book also talks about how genes drives can be used to increase the probability of inheriting a trait from a parent.
The science has been documented into a book titled, “Genome Editing Tools and Gene Drives: A brief overview”, which will be launched on October 19.
The book is at the production stage and will be available on Taylor and Francis eBooks platform.
The authors believe it is one of the few books on the subject and was authored by Zimbabweans.
The team of authors comprise lead author Mr Reagan Mudziwapasi and other lecturers, Dr Ryman Shoko, Dr Rutendo Patricia Nyamusamba and Dr Fortune Ntengwa Jomane.
The students who co-authored the book are Messrs Thandanani Moyo, Farai Faustos Mashiri, Mpumuzi Masuku, Jemethious Dube, Duncan Maruta and Jeffrey Godfrey Chimbo and his wife Mrs Charity Chimbo, Ms Ringisai Chekera, Ms Irvonnie Shoko, Ms Belinda Ncube and Ms Moira Amanda Mubani.
A majority of the authors are from LSU while others are from Chinhoyi University of Technology and Great Zimbabwe University.
They are drawn from the fields of crop science, animal science, pharmaceutical biotechnology, agronomy, animal breeding and biotechnology.
Mr Mudziwapasi, a biotechnology lecturer at LSU said: “The idea of the book came after the realisation that there are very few biotechnology books authored in Africa and available to African students, and also that there is need to promote a culture of writing so we are taking the students through some steps as we inspire them to author some books in genome editing and gene drives”.
Genome editing is the alteration of the genetic material of a living organism by inserting, replacing, or deleting a DNA sequence, typically to improve some characteristic of a crop or farm animal or correct a genetic disorder. The genome editing tools include the latest tools such as CRISPR.
“CRISPR is a technology and we feel as a continent and country our students should master this. They should understand how to engineer drought-tolerant crops, for example, one can take genes from the resurrection plant (umaf’avuke) that tolerates drought and introduce the genes into maize to make it drought-resistant,” said Mr. Mudziwapasi.
He added that the project has nothing to do with paternity tests but the tools can be used in several fields such as agriculture and biomedical science.
Additionally, a virtual training on primer designing using web-based software in collaboration with an American virologist, Professor Emmanuel Corona has also been lined up for next week.
Participants, mostly local science students, will be taken through primer design for use in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based diagnostics, forensics, agriculture and biomedical science.
The training is premised on capacitating scientists doing PCR tests, about its sensitivity and how to design new primers for novel targets.
More than 100 scientists and experts from more than 10 African countries have applied to attend the training.-@ncubeleon
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