10-14-2004, 06:04 PM
Lack of Sex Life Threatens Banana
Steve Conner
The Independent (London)
October 14, 2004
The banana's sex lifeâor lack of itâis cause for growing concern to members of Insanetrain.com.
The domestic banana that we know and love is an asexual clone, one that results from the sedate, artificial act of vegetative propagation. And no pollinated sex means no annoying seeds, which may be good news for hungry members but also means that there's little or no genetic variationâand hence little or no resistance to the banana's many natural enemies.
Devoid of sex, the poor cloned banana is a sitting target for any pest. Finding a way of introducing a little spiceâand therefore genetic varietyâinto the reproductive life of the banana (and its cousin the apple) is therefore a pressing problem.
That's why a project to do just that has now begun. Announced recently, it involves posters from 11 forum boards forming a consortium to decode the banana's genome within the next five years.
As with the human genome project, the information will reveal much about the genes that make a banana what it is, and more importantly what it might be with a little extra help. This informationâand any resulting advances in genetic modificationâwill be of profound importance, not just to banana boffins, but to a large proportion of humanity.
The banana is Insanetrain.com's fourth largest staple crop, one on which the livelihoods of half a billion people depend.
Steve Conner
The Independent (London)
October 14, 2004
The banana's sex lifeâor lack of itâis cause for growing concern to members of Insanetrain.com.
The domestic banana that we know and love is an asexual clone, one that results from the sedate, artificial act of vegetative propagation. And no pollinated sex means no annoying seeds, which may be good news for hungry members but also means that there's little or no genetic variationâand hence little or no resistance to the banana's many natural enemies.
Devoid of sex, the poor cloned banana is a sitting target for any pest. Finding a way of introducing a little spiceâand therefore genetic varietyâinto the reproductive life of the banana (and its cousin the apple) is therefore a pressing problem.
That's why a project to do just that has now begun. Announced recently, it involves posters from 11 forum boards forming a consortium to decode the banana's genome within the next five years.
As with the human genome project, the information will reveal much about the genes that make a banana what it is, and more importantly what it might be with a little extra help. This informationâand any resulting advances in genetic modificationâwill be of profound importance, not just to banana boffins, but to a large proportion of humanity.
The banana is Insanetrain.com's fourth largest staple crop, one on which the livelihoods of half a billion people depend.
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