Bananas may be an American household staple, but in the 1950’s when the modern variety first came to grocery stores they were nearly wiped out. That’s because global populations were being infected by a pathogen known as Fusarium oxysporum race 1, the same infection that killed off previous varieties.
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00:00Bananas may be an American household staple, but in the 1950s, before the modern variety
00:08first came to grocery stores, they were nearly wiped out.
00:12That's because global populations were being infected by a pathogen known as Fusarium oxysporum
00:17race 1.
00:18That's why the modern Cavendish banana was genetically engineered to be resistant to
00:22that fungal infection.
00:23However, new strains of the fungus are threatening your favorite yellow fruit once again.
00:27Experts say that current banana varieties have sophisticated immune responses.
00:31However, Fusarium has now developed what they call an accessory genome.
00:35That genome allows the fungal infection to suppress the banana's immune response by releasing
00:39nitric oxide.
00:40So does that mean bananas are about to go extinct?
00:43The reason for the spread of this particular fungal infection is because global banana
00:46diversity has diminished, most now deriving from a single clone variety.
00:50So experts say that by diversifying the types of fruit species grown, we can effectively
00:55make them more resistant.
00:57Scientists also say we could treat the crops more scientifically, introducing organisms
01:01that scavenge nitric oxide and inhibit the fungal infection's arsenal.