Friedberg explains that a single potato plant produces 12,000 genetically distinct seeds, preventing traditional seed use.
“So while a potato might make 12,000 seed from the flowers that grow out of that potato, every single one of those seed is genetically different.”
Friedberg explains transgenic GMO technology inserts foreign genes to produce non-native proteins in plants.
“And in the popular poll ons, it's called GMO. That system allowed us to introduce proteins into plants that aren't native to that plant.”
Friedberg explains plants with multiple gene copies achieve higher yields because they can adaptively access different gene versions as needed.
“Turns out plants are very good at accessing the gene they need when they need it.”
Friedberg explains Ohalo's core idea: making sex cells carry complete DNA from both parents, which occurs spontaneously in nature.
“what would happen if we could get the sex cells to have all the DNA of the mother and all the DNA of the father, the complete genome?”
Friedberg describes successfully turning off DNA reduction in sex cells to preserve complete genomes in crops.
“The idea was we could turn off the process that causes the fusion, the reduction of the DNA, and have it have all the DNA. And so we did this. It started to work.”
Friedberg explains Ohalo's core technology converts meiosis to mitosis to stack plant traits without trade-offs.
“But you don't have to make the trade offs like you do in plant breeding today, where you give up other good traits in order to try and stack those two traits together.”
Friedberg reports Ohalo successfully changed genetic circuits controlling cell division across multiple plant species last year.
“We were able to change the genetic circuits that control for meiosis and mitosis and make this happen. We did it across multiple plant species.”