Bananas face extinction again: Can gene editing save bananas?

The root cause of this crisis is a fungal infection

Scientists have bred a new Cavendish banana variety that is resistant to Panama disease and now accounts for 99% of global banana sales

Big Mac banana (left, extinct), Cavendish banana (right)

Bananas are in danger of extinction

However, the pathogenic fungi that infect bananas are also evolving

Once the banana is infected, it will cause the inability to transport water and nutrients, causing the central part of the banana tree to shrink and turn black, and within 2-3 years, all the bananas in the banana orchard can completely wither

The scary thing is that the spores of this fungus can lie dormant in the soil for more than 30 years, fungicides are ineffective against them, and the fungus can spread through water droplets and small amounts of soil attached to machines or shoes

So once infected, the only way to control the spread is to destroy all the plants in the plantation and shut down the entire plantation for decades

Due to the widespread cultivation of Cavendish bananas, tropical type 4 yellow leaf disease (TR4), once spread on a large scale, is likely to completely destroy the entire banana industry

Because Cavendish bananas are triploid, have no seeds and can only be propagated by cloning, traditional breeding methods cannot confer disease resistance to tropical yellow leaf disease type 4 (TR4)

Therefore, there may be only one way to rescue the banana from the fungus, and that is to modify its genome to confer resistance to tropical yellow leaf disease type 4 (TR4)

Why can't we lose bananas?

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits in the world, and people around the world eat more than 100 billion bananas every year

The entire banana industry is a $25 billion industry on which millions of people live

Therefore, bananas are not only a fruit, but also the basis of many people's survival, which is also an important reason why we cannot lose bananas

Saving bananas with gene editing

Traditional plant breeding is a laborious, tedious and time-consuming process that often takes decades to succeed

The advent of gene editing technology has opened up a new world for breeding

In August 2020, gene editing and breeding company Elo Life Systems announced a partnership with Dole Corporation, one of the world's top three banana suppliers, to save endangered banana cultivation by developing yellow leaf disease-resistant tropical type 4 (TR4) bananas through gene editing technology industry

Elo Life Systems plans to address the current banana crisis in several ways, such as finding infection-fighting genes in the close relatives of Cavendish bananas, susceptibility genes in Cavendish bananas, and then using the company's unique gene-editing tools to Meganuclease precisely deletes or inserts specific DNA fragments to develop yellow leaf disease tropical type 4 (TR4) Cavendish bananas

Gene editing opportunities in agricultural breeding

In addition to bananas, Elo Life Systems is conducting several studies to improve the health and taste of foods, such as gene editing to reduce saturated fatty acids in canola oil, resulting in healthier cooking oils; gene editing, which breeds sweeter but lower Calories in watermelon; and more weather-resistant food crops, and more
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Reference link: https://elolife.
ag/dole-partners-with-elo-life-systems-to-save-the-banana/