Genetically engineered bananas resistant to Xanthomonas wilt disease and nematodes
Loading...
Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Food and Energy Security
Abstract
Banana is an important staple food crop feeding more than 100 million Africans,
but is subject to severe productivity constraints due to a range of pests and
diseases. Banana Xanthomonas wilt caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv.
musacearum is capable of entirely destroying a plantation while nematodes can
cause losses up to 50% and increase susceptibility to other pests and diseases.
Development of improved varieties of banana is fundamental in order to tackle
these challenges. However, the sterile nature of the crop and the lack of resistance
in Musa germplasm make improvement by traditional breeding techniques
either impossible or extremely slow. Recent developments using genetic engineering
have begun to address these problems. Transgenic banana expressing
sweet pepper Hrap and Pflp genes have demonstrated complete resistance against
X. campestris pv. musacearum in the field. Transgenic plantains expressing a
cysteine proteinase inhibitors and/or synthetic peptide showed enhanced resistance
to a mixed species population of nematodes in the field. Here, we review
the genetic engineering technologies which have potential to improve agriculture
and food security in Africa.
Description
Keywords
Banana, Improvement, Genetic engineering, Xanthomonas wilt, Nematode, Africa
Citation
Tripathi, L., Atkinson, H., Roderick, H., Kubiriba, J., & Tripathi, J. N. (2017). Genetically engineered bananas resistant to Xanthomonas wilt disease and nematodes. Food and Energy Security, 6(2), 37-47. doi: 10.1002/fes3.101