Scientists used CRISPR technology to improve bananas

a study published online January 31 in the journal Communication-Biology on a strategy that could successfully eliminate the banana stripe virus. This is a strategy based on CRISPR technology that promises to improve the growth of plantains and increase yields.
bananas and their next of kin are an important staple food crop in tropical and subtropical countries. Cultivating varieties with higher disease- and insect-resistant properties is the key to ensuring their health and high yield. Banana stripe virus is a widely distributed virus that causes disease by inserting its own DNA into the banana B genome, which can eventually lead to crop death. For example, when bananas are threatened by drought or high temperatures, banana stripe virus DNA produces functional viral particles that eventually cause disease symptoms. As a result, growers avoid using bananas containing the B genome when improving bananas, such as wild plantains, despite their excellent properties, including cold resistance, root development, and resistance.
Jaindra Tripathi of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Nairobi, Kenya, and colleagues used the CRISPR/Cas9 system to infest viral DNA from the Gonja Manjaya B genome. Gonja Manjaya is one of a class of plantains that grow mainly in central and eastern Africa. The researchers found that 75 percent of the edited plantains showed no symptoms of the banana stripe virus during drought pressure, proving that the virus's DNA was indeed infested.
could be used to improve bananas and plantains and develop new hybrids with a strengthened B genome, according to researchers.