Genetically modified bananas approved by regulators for the first time

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Biotechnology

Context:

For the first time, a genetically modified strain of the Cavendish banana, engineered to resist a destructive fungal disease, has been authorized for farm cultivation in Australia and New Zealand.

Details:

The Australian Office of the Gene Technology Regulator granted a commercial growth license, followed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand approving it for consumption, affirming its safety and nutritional equivalence to traditional bananas.
This development aims to combat the global spread of a new Fusarium fungus strain, TR4, threatening the Cavendish variety, which became the primary banana type in Western countries after the Gros Michel variety was decimated by an earlier Fusarium strain, TR1, in the 1950s.

Cavendish banana:

Cavendish bananas are the fruits of one of several banana cultivars belonging to the Cavendish subgroup of the AAA banana cultivar group (triploid cultivars of Musa acuminata).
They include commercially important cultivars like ‘Dwarf Cavendish’ (1888) and ‘Grand Nain’ (the “Chiquita banana”).
Since the 1950s, these cultivars have been the most internationally traded bananas. They replaced the Gros Michel banana (commonly known as Kampala banana in Kenya and Bogoya in Uganda) after it was devastated by Panama disease.
They are unable to reproduce sexually, instead being propagated via identical clones.
Due to this, the genetic diversity of the Cavendish banana is very low.
This, combined with the fact the Cavendish is planted in dense chunks in a monoculture without other natural species to serve as a buffer, makes the Cavendish extremely vulnerable to disease, fungal outbreaks, and genetic mutation, possibly leading to eventual commercial extinction.

Panama disease:

Panama disease (or Fusarium wilt) is a plant disease that infects banana plants (Musa spp.).
It is a wilting disease caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc). The pathogen is resistant to fungicides and its control is limited to phytosanitary measures.
During the 1950s, an outbreak of Panama disease almost wiped out commercial Gros Michel banana production. The Gros Michel banana was the dominant cultivar of bananas, and Fusarium wilt inflicted enormous costs and forced producers to switch to other, disease-resistant cultivars.
Since the 2010s, a new outbreak of Panama disease caused by the strain Tropical Race 4 (TR4) has threatened the production of the Cavendish banana, today’s most popular cultivar.

Source: NS