Gene editing poised to rescue banana production from plant disease sweeping through Central America

There are more than a thousand types of bananas in the world. But one variety, the Cavendish, is ubiquitous in supermarkets and makes up the vast majority of the 10 billion bananas imported into the U.S. each year. It’s also at risk of disappearing.

No good solution exists yet. But on a Dole banana plantation in Central America, a new field trial will soon test Cavendish bananas that have been gene edited in an attempt to help them survive the fungus. Elo Life Systems, the biotech company that developed the bananas, used data analytics to quickly sort through the genomes of other varieties (and other plants) that are naturally resistant to the disease.

Since it takes time for the trees to grow, the new plants at the Dole plantation aren’t yet proven. But in the lab, the gene-edited bananas survived high doses of the fungus. Now they’ll be grown and tested in Dole’s nurseries, and then moved into fields that are not in use because they’re infected with the fungus. By the end of next year, researchers should know whether the plants can survive and perform as well as the original banana trees. Other startups are also racing to test gene-edited bananas.