Making bananas resistant to a common fungus

The fungus, Mycosphaerella fijiensis, or the devastating leaf spot fungus has been spreading in East Africa over the last three decades.  This fungus causes black sigatoga disease in banana trees, which forms dark spots on the leaves that grow to merge together and dry out the leaf.  It is spread through airborne spores, rain, irrigation water, and by transporting goods.  If a field is infected, the fruit production could be cut in half

Mycosphaerella fijiensis has been a focus of research at the Uganda's National Agricultural Research Laboratories Institute (NARL).  Andrew Kiggundu, the head of banana biotechnology research and his team at NARL inserted into the banana plant the genes for chitinase, an enzyme that breaks down the cell walls of the fungus, so that the fungus is no longer able to invade the plant.  The team the analyzed 19 versions of these genetically modified bananas with 5 promising results, although more research needs to be done on exact yield gains on resistant strains of banana.  Laboratory tests showed leaves from treated plants were almost completely immune when the fungus was applied to the leaves.  This research is the beginning of other genetic engineering and breeding programs in other varieties of bananas and other crop species. 

While this fungus mainly affects the Cavendish banana which is not widely cultivated, this development is still important to farmers growing Cavendish.  The disease is controlled, now, by pesticides which are often too expensive for farmers and hazardous to their health.

While this particular discovery doesn't seem to hold too much importance, in reality the more we know, the further that knowledge can take us.  This genetically modified banana is just a stepping stone to make more species of crop more  durable and resistant to diseases.  Overall

//