Steven Runo is a Kenyan researcher who is a professor at Kenyatta University. Runo has extensively studied the pathogens of African cereal crops, including '' Striga''. He was awarded the 2020

Royal Society Africa Prize The Royal Society Africa Prize (formerly known as the Royal Society Pfizer Prize) has been awarded by the Royal Society since 2006 to African-based researchers at the start of their career who are making innovative contributions to the biological ...

Early life and education

Runo was born in Kenya. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at Kenyatta University. Runo moved to the United States for his doctoral research, where he joined the University of California, Davis and worked alongside

Neelima Sinha Neelima Roy Sinha (born March 26, 1954) is an American botanist. She is a professor at the University of California Davis. Early life and education Neelima Sinha was born on March 26, 1954, in a small town near New Delhi, India. She earned her ...

. It was here where he started working on long-distance

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

trafficking, focussing initially on communication between '' Cuscuta'' and tomatoes.

Research and career

In 2008 Runo returned to Africa, where he was made professor at Kenyatta University. He has been appointed a visiting scientist at the University of Sheffield and University of Virginia. Runo investigates the pathogens which threaten African agriculture. Amongst these, he has studied

witchweed ''Striga'', commonly known as witchweed, is a genus of parasitic plants that occur naturally in parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia. It is currently classified in the family Orobanchaceae, although older classifications place it in the Scrophul ...

(or '' Striga''), a parasitic plant that attacks cultivated cereals. Runo refers to ''Striga'' as the “cereal killer”. Whilst ''Striga''-resistant cereal crops can be grown, they typically mutate into versions that are not tolerant to attack. It is estimated that crops lost to ''Striga'' cost up to $200 million a year, and each plant can produce up to 500,000 seeds. The seeds are transported by wind and water and can rapidly germinate. Runo has proposed several control strategies; including identifying ways to avoid germination, exploiting host-based resistance and diminishing the ''Striga'' seed bank. Amongst these, germination can be avoided through the use of

chemical biology Chemical biology is a scientific discipline spanning the fields of chemistry and biology. The discipline involves the application of chemical techniques, analysis, and often small molecules produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and ma ...

; making use of small molecules to bind to the strigolactone receptor. He has also studied how molecular genetics can be used to identify the specific genes that can make crops resistant. To achieve these aims, Runo has investigated the trafficking of RNA molecules between parasitic plants. Runo is part of the GEMADOT (Genetically Modified for Drought Tolerance) project that looks to identify and develop drought tolerant maize varieties that can prevent food insecurity in Africa. In 2020 Runo was awarded the

''“For elucidating pathways for long distance RNA trafficking between parasitic plants and their hosts and identifying and developing transgenic protocol for characterizing and validating candidate host and parasite genes,”''

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Runo, Steven Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Royal Society Kenyan scientists Academic staff of Kenyatta University University of Virginia Orobanchaceae