Role of Genetic Modification in Developing Climate Smart Agriculture to Ensure Sustained Food Security

Abstract

I was a contemporary of James Watson and Francis Crick at the University of Cambridge, UK, during 1950–52. I was aware of the fact that they were working on the molecular structure of DNA in association with Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin since I used to visit the Cavendish Laboratory to attend lectures by Prof Max Perutz. Their publication on the double helix structure of the DNA molecule appeared in Nature early in 1953 [2, 7, 8]. I was then at the Genetics Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. Since then, I have been following the explosive progress of the science of molecular genetics, opening up uncommon opportunities for transferring genes across sexual barriers. I was deeply interested in this development, since my work in the early 1950s related to the transfer of genes in tuber-bearing Solanum species for characters like frost tolerance and resistance to the golden nematode, Heterodera rostochiensis. The donor for frost tolerance was the species S. acaule from the Lake Titicaca region of Peru-Bolivia, while the donor for golden nematode resistance was S. polyadenium. Achieving crosses between these species and S. tuberosum was extremely difficult, since the foreign pollen were getting inhibited in the stigma and style. I had to remove the stigma and replace it with an artificial medium which promoted pollen germination [4]. This technique later came to be known as the ‘Swaminathan artificial stigma method’. All this would not have been necessary if the recombinant DNA technology had existed then. Thus, the Watson–Crick–Wilkins– Franklin discovery paved the way for fulfilling the dream of plant and animal breeders and microbiologists with respect to producing novel genetic combinations of applied interest. The award of the Nobel Prize to my colleague at the University of Wisconsin Dr. Joshua Lederberg, for his work on microbial transformation further stimulated my interest in this fast growing area of science. The US National Academy of Sciences invited me in 1982 to deliver a lecture on ‘Biotechnology Research and Third World Agriculture’, where I emphasised the need for Third World countries, to master all recent developments in Genetics [5]. In 1980, when I joined the Union Planning Commission at the invitation of the then Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi, I got a National Biotechnology Board set up to achieve synergy and coordination among the work in progress in molecular genetics and genetic engineering under the umbrella of different scientific organisations like ICAR, CSIR, ICMR, Department of Atomic Energy and UGC. I served as the first chair of the National Biotechnology Board. Later, it was converted into a Department of Biotechnology during the tenure of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, with Dr. S. Ramachandran serving as its first Secretary. During the last 30 years, the Government of India has invested a considerable amount of money in creating the infrastructure essential for advanced research in the broad