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posted by martyb on Friday February 01 2019, @05:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the Yes!-We-have-no-bananas-♩♬♪♪ dept.

Virus lurking inside banana genome has been destroyed with CRISPR

Genome editing has been used to destroy a virus that lurks inside many of the bananas grown in Africa. Other teams are trying to use it to make the Cavendish bananas sold in supermarkets worldwide resistant to a disease that threatens to make it impossible to grow this variety commercially in future. The banana streak virus can not only be spread from plant to plant by insects like most plant viruses. It also integrates its DNA into the banana's genome. In places like west Africa, where bananas are a staple food, most bananas now have the virus lurking inside them.

[...] But Leena Tripathi at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Kenya has now used the CRISPR genome editing method to target and destroy the viral DNA inside the genome of a banana variety called Gonja Manjaya.

The plan is to use these plants to breed virus-free plants for farmers. Her team is also using CRISPR to make the bananas resistant to the virus, so they are not simply re-infected. But the legal status of genome-edited plants in the west African countries where Gonja Manjaya is grown remains uncertain. "I think right now they are in discussions about whether it requires legislation," says Tripathi.

The banana streak virus does not infect the popular Cavendish banana. But a fungal strain called Tropical Race 4 is devastating Cavendish plantations as it spreads around the world. Before the 1960s the most popular banana was the reportedly more delicious Gros Michel, which farmers had to stop growing because of the spread of another fungal strain called Tropical Race 1.

PAPER (DOI: 10.1038/s42003-019-02) (DX)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @07:35PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @07:35PM (#795145)

    VICE did a bit on bananas, and one shown was completely brown, and delicious, when ripe.

    The brown was a problem, as consumers have been educated to only buy yellow bananas.

    There are varieties which are also green when ripe, and those too are being cast aside for the same reason.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday February 01 2019, @07:53PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday February 01 2019, @07:53PM (#795156) Journal

    If poorly trained consumers are the problem, "off-color" varieties could still be grown for processed foods such as smoothies [campbells.com], breads, ice cream, baby food, etc. [shape.com]

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