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Access through your institution Buy or subscribe Farmers have a green light to grow the first genetically modified banana. The wilt-proof strain of the Cavendish banana developed by

researchers from the Queensland University of Technology is resistant to Panama disease (_Fusarium_ wilt), a devastating fungus. The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator in Australia gave

the go-ahead on 12 February to allow the genetically modified banana to be grown commercially. The banana is modified to resist the tropical race 4 (TR4) fungus _Fusarium oxysporum_ f. sp.

_cubense_, a soil-borne pathogen that attacks the roots of the banana, causing it to wilt. The fungus is aggressive and destructive and has spread to several countries worldwide. It affects

many varieties, including Cavendish, which are half the global banana supply. The wilt-resistant banana emerged from a chance observation. The Queensland scientists noticed a wild variety

(_Musa acuminata_ ssp. _malaccensis_) of banana thriving in a plantation devastated by the disease. Although the _malaccensis_ banana is not used commercially because it has too little flesh

and its yield is low, certain variations in its _RGA2_ gene — also present but inactive in the Cavendish strain — allowed it to resist the fungus. This is a preview of subscription content,

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institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Singapore, Singapore Claire Turrell Authors * Claire Turrell View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Turrell, C. Saving Cavendish.

_Nat Biotechnol_ 42, 545 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02206-2 Download citation * Published: 17 April 2024 * Issue Date: April 2024 * DOI:

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