Two Israeli companies announced this week they’ve come up with a solution to the troublesome Banana fungus known as Black Sigatoka: specialized banana strains that are resistant to the fungus.
Evogene Ltd. – a genetic crops design company – and biotechnology company Rahan Meristem Ltd. have completed second-year field trials with strains that were created with genome editing technology, they announced Tuesday.
Genome editing technology involves targeted modifications in a cell’s DNA in order to develop a potentially safer and healthier product.
When the final product goes to market, it is expected to be classified as non-GMO, which will significantly lower regulatory hurdles, according to a release from Rahan Meristem.
Founded in 2002 in Rehovot, 12 miles (20 km) south of Tel Aviv, Evogene used its predictive computational biology platform to identify banana genes predicted to be highly resistant to Black Sigatoka fungus, which has cost global banana producers millions of dollars a year.
Chemical fungicides are considered the only effective treatment but are very unpopular in Europe due to health considerations, and because their frequent use also increases the likelihood that strains will evolve that are resistant to the fungicide.