Sweet Pepper Genes Inserted to Banana to Fight Pest

In Uganda, banana is the leading non-cereal crop, with around 70 percent of the population regarding it as their staple food. However, the banana industry has faced a US$200 million loss in 2001 due to a disease called banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW). Thus, scientists have developed a genetically-modified banana with resistance to the BXW disease.

Leena Tripathy, biotechnologist from International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria, together with other scientists, transferred two genes from sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum) to banana and the transgenic banana showed promising resistance to the disease, but it is still subject for field trials. However, the Ugandan farmers would not be able to plant the GM banana's seeds until the 2008 National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill has been approved by the parliament.

Read more at http://allafrica.com/stories/201006141950.html.