The most popular type of banana could go extinct due to a fungus outbreak, scientist Dan Koeppel told Business Insider in an article published Sunday. The Cavendish banana, which was originally bred to be resistant to disease, is found in supermarkets around the world and makes up about 47% of all bananas on the global market. It has been struck by a merciless fungal infection called Panama disease (Fusarium wilt) tropical race 4 (TR4).“Nobody is even close to solving the problem,” said Koeppel, who is the author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World.The infection appears to originate in the roots of the banana tree, and travels throughout the plant, landing in the potassium-filled fruit — causing it to starve from food and water and die. The TR4 strand of the vicious fungal infection was first discovered in Taiwan in 1989 and has since been found in Australia, India, China, the Middle East, Africa and most recently South America. Bioscience professor at the University of Exeter Dan Bebber said in 2019, “Once it’s in a country it’s very hard to get rid of it.”This is not the first time a type of banana has faced extinction. A previous type, Gros Michel, existed in the early 20th century but was completely wiped out — by TR1, the predecessor of TR4. The Cavendish banana outlived its counterpart, as it appeared to be immune to TR1, and became the most common banana of the some 1,000 strands. There is good news: experts think there is a way to keep the Cavendish from extinction. Professor and leader of the banana biotechnology program at Queensland University of Technology James Dale said there is still time left to solve the problem. “We have at least a decade before the impact is drastic,” Dale said. “I would say with certainty there will be a solution before the export market for Cavendish is severely affected.”Scientists have posed solutions such as genetically modified versions of the Cavendish, fruit grafting, which is transplanting tissues from one plant to another and tweaking seeds to make them resistant to the fungus. Koeppel is not as certain about the future of the Cavendish, and argues these are short-term solutions to a big problem. He asserts that maintaining the existence of the Cavendish would involve mass production and putting more banana varieties on the market will make the fruit less vulnerable. “The answer is going to be the end of monoculture,” he said. “The answer is variety.”
