Researchers develop first banana plant resistant to TR4 and black sigatoka | Hacker News Reader

Researchers develop first banana plant resistant to TR4 and black sigatoka

phys.org

34 pointsSomeone15 comments

Here's the key section about the techniques they used:

The team of experts employed a combination of traditional crossbreeding techniques and modern DNA analysis technology to accelerate the process of developing resistant banana varieties. This allowed them to select new varieties with desired traits, such as disease resistance, more quickly and efficiently.

So they didn't actually perform any genetic modifications.

Can we get back the superior Gros Michel banana then? Or a new one that is at least more similar to that than to the Cavendish?

I'd love to see the original tastier bananas back. They're still about, preserved in obscure places like Kew gardens.

I think I read they are still in some places like Asia? Just not Central or South America for decades.

The wording of the title is weird, it's like humans have developed a new banana. (that is, the title doesn't say a variant of a banana, but a banana)

moreover:

"The breakthrough was achieved through a collaboration between Chiquita, KeyGene, MusaRadix, and Wageningen University & Research.

so is this patented ?

They mention that they will “make it available” to everyone. What that means is anyone’s guess.

That being said, the way banana plants are propagated and that they’re being sent out to south east Asia means that no copyright will be enforceable.

Maybe not patented, but most commercially grown crops come from proprietary seeds.

Hybrids are made from two plants, and the offspring is not the same. So you need to keep buying new seeds each season. Those two plants that are selected are the secret. Some tomato seeds cost more than 10x their weight in gold.

I watched a good documentary on YouTube about it earlier this year, but I can't find it now :/

Commercial bananas grow from cuttings. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but in the US, plant patents protect against unauthorized propagation.

I'm no expert, just a 'hobby/subsistence farmer', but I don't think it is wanted in South-East Asia, where the 'true banana', Gross Michel or close relatives still grow quite well at least for me.

In fact the last thing needed is to replace extant varieties with a subscription banana.

So long Cavendish, hello Yelloway One!

I wonder if they do tests to compare the nutritional output of the resultant banana compared to say, the cavendish.

I am genuinely excited that we may have found a way to protect Banana's future and clearly the way they developed this was the right way to do it.

But I am not looking forward to the anti-science folks vilifying this since the way I am reading this is that it is an GMO? Or did they just use the genetic tools to figure out what to breed in a traditional way?

If every single banana is GMO it is going to really set off some conspiracy theorists.

I really wish this anti-gmo thing never got enough traction for there to be laws requiring labeling. It has gotten to the point that if a product proudly claims its "non gmo" I will not buy it if I have a choice.

The article states "Yelloway One is the product of conventional breeding techniques." and that [...]"modern DNA analysis technology to accelerate the process of developing resistant banana varieties. This allowed them to select new varieties with desired traits, such as disease resistance, more quickly and efficiently"

I think that means it's non-GMO and shouldn't cause a kerfluffle.

It also shows how thin the line between “bred” and “genetically modified” is if you can rapidly check what you bred.

They knew what DNA sequence they wanted to see in this banana, rolled the dice by breeding some banana variants, sequenced the DNA of those variants, selected the variants closest to their goal, rolled the slightly loaded dice they got from round 1 to get more variants, sequenced those to get dice that were loaded slightly more, etc.

With traditional breeding you grow the plants and check how well they do. That takes way more time than growing them until you can breed with them.

You also can’t easily take a path that includes variants that are very weak, and will hardly grow. This method likely is better in that regard.

The line is pretty thick. For selective breeding, the end result still needs to be capable of consecutive propagation. The seeds you select have to be grown into a full plant that actually exists and then produces its own viable seeds and it has to do this for multiple generations. With GMOs, being able to DRM the seeds is widely considered a feature.

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