SmoothBrainSavant t1_isrcm1c wrote
Reply to comment by AbsoluteTruth in The Search Is on for Banana Ancestors | previously unknown ancestors discovered in sequence data by mem_somerville
Its so odd that folks would rather try an bring back a wolly mammoth but not the king of bananas. Craziness
AbsoluteTruth t1_isrd1em wrote
It's because all GMO efforts so far have failed to yield a banana plant that's sufficiently resistant to Panama Disease.
The most successful effort so far has been a Cavendish/Gros Michel hybrid, but it's only got partial resistance to Panama Disease, and is particularly susceptible to black sigatoka, a different disease affecting banana plants.
The main issue is that edible bananas reproduce asexually and most banana trees are direct offshoots planted from prior trees rather than a new generation of plant, so they don't breed the same way other crops do in order to select for more robust variants.
SmoothBrainSavant t1_isrevmf wrote
Very cool. But also very sad.
amorphoussoupcake t1_ist5khj wrote
We’ll think of how many people you could feed with just one wooly mammoth compared to one banana.
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