It turns out that 'Banana' lining up in supermarket is exposed to crisis situation by fungus

ByShubert Ciencia

There are so many varieties in bananas, but the most major one among themCavendishMost of the seeds sold in Japanese supermarkets will be this varieties. It turned out that such Cavendish species is likely to be devastatingly damaged by a variant of Fusarium fungus.

Fungus threatens top banana: Nature News & amp; Comment
http://www.nature.com/news/fungus-threatens-top-banana-1.14336

Currently, it is a Cavendish species which makes up the majority of exported bananas in the world, but before this the bananas called Gro - Michelle were the main bananas exported. Gro-Michele species are weak against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) fungi of the genus Fusarium and are deprived of the main banana exported to the Cavendish species which had strong resistance to Foc.

ByJekson Robertlee

However, this Cavendish species is vulnerable to Foc tropical seed 4 (Foc-TR4) which is a variant of Foc, and it has been found that the fruit decays on infection, and this fungus is responsible for 80% of the world's banana exports Latin America , Cavendish species will be out of the main export banana, and in the supermarket you may see other varieties of bananas.

Foc-TR 4 was first found in Asia in the 1990's and was detected in some areas of Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Australia until now. However, Foc-TR 4 was found on Jordan on October 29, 2013, Mozambique in November and land that was not detected so far, experts are concerned about spreading this fungus all over the world I will. It is a Cavendish species that accounts for billions of dollars of banana export business, but if Foc-TR4 is detected in Latin America, its supply will be reduced to about one tenth of the current amount , Experts say. It is unknown how this fungus passed to Jordan and Mozambique, but it is thought that workers migrant brought contaminated soil and that roots and stems for growing banana were infected with Foc-TR4 It seems to be.

ByKendra k

Some farms in Asia are trying to reduce this risk even as little as possible,Tissue culture, Succeeded in culturing mutant species with resistance to Foc-TR4 in part. These variantsRotationBy combining with such means as above, it seems that ingenuity has been elaborated so that even the land contaminated with Foc-TR4 can grow Cavendish species.

ByAhmad Fuad Morad

In addition, Musa acuminata malaccensis which is a wild banana in Asia seems to have resistance to Foc-TR4, and researchers are experimenting to incorporate this resistance gene into Cavendish species. A new genetically engineered varieties, after field experiments in Australia's contaminated lands as long as 18 months, at Queensland Institute of TechnologyCenter for Tropical Crops and BiocommoditiesMr. James Dale, who served as the center director, received a rating of "very promising." However, it is said that not enough results have been obtained yet, and expectations for future developments are being received.

In this way, it is thought that creating a new Cavendish species that is resistant to Foc-TR4 will be a progress of banana production by applying classical breed improvement and genetic engineering that has been limited so far It seems that it is being done. Also, since there are hundreds of varieties in bananas around the world, it is thought that it is possible that even if some varieties suffer from disease, there are varieties resistant to other diseases and it is possible to incorporate the resistance gene of this I will.

ByChristopher