Can CRISPR save the Cavendish?
Source
The delicate situation of the Cavendish banana variety has long been heard, due to a fearsome mushroom called Fusarium R4T that attacks the roots of the Cavendish banana variety.
This fungus is a particularly tough opponent, it cannot be eliminated with fungicides, and it can remain on the ground for up to 30 years, which has helped this fungus to spread slowly throughout the world.
Since it is not possible to combat it using conventional methods, because this variety is sterile and propagated by cloning, it seems the only way to save Cavendish may be to modify its genome.
This is where the already famous CRISPR genetic editing tool comes in, which aims to insert a wild banana gene Musa acuminate malaccensis that confers resistance to the bug in question.
The bad thing is that mostly ordinary people still have a phobia of transgenic elements, so it may take a long time to approve this genetic edition.
Source: twobirds.com, read original article
https://www.twobirds.com/en/news/articles/2019/global/can-crispr-save-the-cavendish
Versión en español
I hate GMO -but what you are talking about is not the kind of GMO people like me hate.
GMO is used to put DNA from pigs, insects etc plus insecticides/herbicides into the DNA of the plants (as they have done with corn; potatoes' tomatoes; wheat; soya beans and many others.
You are talking about taking a gene from a wild banana and placing it in the DNA of the banana...which is similar to the way we evolved our fruits and vegetables and other crops (plus animals, dogs, cats etc) - by selective breeding. That is not dangerous for us, as GMO is.