BCEStudent

I've found out some pretty interesting stuff but I'm having some trouble find some things.

Here is an overview of what I know:

The current, most wide-spread banana is the Cavendish. It seems to be the case that the Cavendish is the most wide-spread subgroup due to its resistance to panama disease. A trait which was not shared with it's predecessor Gros Michel. It seems like the current banana is under similar threat these days. Mostly from the fungal disease 'Black Sigatoka' - which interferes with photosynthesis - ultimately leading to a significant decrease in bunch weight. There also seem to be two other diseases, which I would consider more of a threat if they were more widely spread. These are BXW (Banana Xanthomonas Wilt) and the Bunchy Top Virus. Anyway, the current remedy for Black Sigatoka seems to be spraying a bunch of fungicide everywhere. There are clear downsides to this (worker exposure, cost) and so GM seems like an attractive route. As such, people are involved in the genetic modification of bananas. Additionally, it seems like there has been some success.


What I am looking for...

-Any corrections, modifications, or interesting additions to my 'banana history'. Additionally, I would love to put together a history of the genetic modification of bananas, but I have had no luck finding this information and putting it together.

-Information on bananas that have been genetically modified to be resistant to any of the three aforementioned diseases.

-The current state of affairs regarding bananas, disease and research.

-Further information and updates regarding the research mentioned in the articles below.

What I have found...

An overview of the genetic modification of bananas

Uganda hosts a banana trial

Uganda prepares to plant transgenic bananas.

GMO and saving the banana

Some research papers on genetic modification and bananas.


Control of black leaf streak disease


Thanks for reading this far! Any help would be appreciated.


EDIT: So I have now found two sources which I think are a bit more important than most of the others. So far the main research I can find on genetically modified bananas can be broken up into three projects.

(1) The splicing of the DNA corresponding to a rice gene which codes for a protein that destroys fungal cell walls.


(2) Bananas modified to fight BXW by making proteins from sweet peppers.

(3) Taiwanese bananas engineered by mutating sequences of DNA in its genome. (Pg. 220 in the linked book.)

Nicolas Naranja

Are you talking about genetic modification such as moving genes between species or are you talking about the broad definition of genetic modification which tends to be called "traditional breeding". There are no commercial transgenic banana plants. Even the recent super banana that is being tested to address vitamin A deficiency was developed by moving genes from one banana plant to another using molecular techniques.

Traditional breeding has given us some disease resistant cultivars.

Cavendish bananas have to sprayed many times per year to keep Black Sigatoka at bay, however the big threat looming on the horizon is Panama Disease Tropical Race 4 which threatens to wipe out Cavendish plantations worldwide. Black Sigatoka is a controllable problem, Panama disease has no cure. Due to the global resistance to GMOs, I wouldn't expect to see many GMO bananas planted in the near future.

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BCEStudent

Definitely more the former rather than the latter.

I would be fine with just writing my paper on research involving transgenic banana plants.

Could you clarify what you mean here? It sounds like you are saying that the gene was spliced in with the rest of the bananas DNA? Does this not count as transgenic? Also I want to clarify the scope of my topic here. These kinds of molecular techniques definitely fit within the scope of my paper. I think just about the only thing that doesn't is 'traditional breeding'.

It seems like if I were to continue with this paper it would be mostly on research being done. I do have one thing to say here though. It seems like some producers (at least in the US) might benefit from this. It also looks like some GM bananas are being planted in Uganda. Do you know if this is still being done?

Nicolas Naranja

So there is some debate as to whether or not a crop developed by moving genes within a species should fall under the same legal definition for genetically modified. Basically the took the gene responsible for high levels of vitamin A from one banana and put it into another banana which basically sped up the breeding process by 20 years. I would have to say that there should be a distinction between moving genes within a species and moving lets say an onion gene into a banana genome. All that being said...Taiwan also uses somatic mutation to breed bananas. They expose tissue culture plantlets to mutagens and then test them for resistance to disease. As a result they have developed some Panama disease resistant cultivars.

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PR-Giants

Most bananas are grown are for the local market and do not need to be sprayed, simple cultural practices will suffice.

Export bananas require an extended green-life for shipping and this does require spraying to assure a sufficient amount of functioning leaves when harvested.

A banana harvested with an insufficient amount of functioning leaves will simply ripen sooner.

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PR-Giants

In the 2006 study one showed some resistance, but not resistant. I believe it was classified as slowly susceptible, while the others were classified as susceptible. Their bunches are small and are not considered for commercial production.

I haven't read the 2013 trials yet, but last I knew only the FHIA-25 is a resistant plant crop and FHIA-01, 18, & 25 have resistant ratoon crops.

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PR-Giants

I believe Bill Gates tried the Super Iron Banana in India before the Super A Banana.

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BCEStudent

Okay. I think I see the point being made here. Thanks for that clarification.

Okay, so there is no way I would have found that on my own. I found some information on this topic around page 220 of a book called "The Improvement and Testing of Musa". Unsurprisingly, I suppose, all of the primary sources cited by the book in this section are in Chinese. If you have any sources that you read about this in, I would be interested in obtaining them. I would also be interested in knowing more about these panama disease resistant cultivars developed by the aforementioned method. Are these used commercially in Taiwan?

BCEStudent

I think I know what you are talking about. I found an LA times article that says the following:

Apparently these bananas were engineered to have a rice gene which coded for a protein that destroyed fungal cell walls.

Small because of the disease, or small somehow due to the genetic modification. If it is the latter, I am quite confused. I cannot understand why adding a gene to code for a specific protein would affect fruit size.

I am having trouble finding information on these crops. Are these genetically modified?

Nicolas Naranja

HWANG, S.C. and Ko, W.H. 1988. Mutants of Cavendish banana resistant to race-4 of Fusarium oxysporumf.sp. cubense. Plant Protection Bulletin 30: 386-392

HWANG, S.C. and Ko, W.H. 1990. Selection of improved Cavendish banana mutants resistant to race-4 of Fusarium oxysporumf.sp. cubense. Acta Horticulturae 275:417-423.

HWANG, S.C. and Tang, C.Y. 1995. Somaclonal variation and its use in Taiwan. (Paper resented to MARDI, International banana workshop: New frontiers in resistance breeding for nematodes, fusarium and sigatoka. Serdang, Malaysia 2-5 Oct. 1995)

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BCEStudent

Thank you for the sources. This exchange has been very profitable for me.

PR-Giants

If your paper is going to include current information, you should read '2014 Australian Bananas Magazine'.

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BCEStudent

Thank you for the suggestion. I have already found an interesting article on GM bananas in issue 40 along with a picture from the 2010 Uganda trials, which I would not have had otherwise. If you recall any issues that have GMO articles in them please let me know.

Richard

You are writing about a tough subject. There are breeding programs that are focused on generally a better banana in terms of taste, disease resistance, etc. and there are also GMO programs with the same goals. Likewise there are both breeding and GMO programs seeking to reduce pesticide costs regardless of taste.

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BCEStudent

Thank you for the source.