Banana doom! Fungal disease could wipe bananas out in 5 to 10 years

Scientists have sequenced the genomes of three fungal diseases that currently threaten banana crops, and found something disturbing - the fungi have evolved to the point where they could wipe out the most popular banana crops in five to 10 years.

Before you let the darkness of a world without bananas swallow you up, the good news is that now we know the genetic sequence of these fungi, we have a good chance of being able to save our favourite fruit species.

"In reality, the global banana industry could be wiped out in just five to 10 years by fast-advancing fungal diseases," a statement from study leaders from the University of California, Davis, explains.

The news comes after we found out last year that another type of fungi not studied in this paper, Panama disease, had breached quarantine efforts and spread across South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia, posing a serious threat to banana crops.

But for this research, the team looked at a disease called Sigatoka, which is caused by three types of fungi, and already reduces banana yields by 40 percent every year.

For the first time, scientists from the University of California, Davis and the Netherlands sequenced the genomes of all three Sigatoka strains - yellow Sigatoka (Pseudocercospora musae), eumusae leaf spot (Pseudocercospora eumusae), and black Sigatoka (Pseudocercospora figiensis).

They found that the strains had actually become more dangerous, and no longer just hijack banana's immune system, but also their metabolism.

"We have demonstrated that two of the three most serious banana fungal diseases have become more virulent by increasing their ability to manipulate the banana’s metabolic pathways and make use of its nutrients," said one of the researchers Ioannis Stergiopoulos.

[link to www.sciencealert.com]