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10/27/2015

Topic Reading-Vol.1294-10/27/2015

Dear MEL School’s Topic Readers,
Why bananas as we know them might go extinct (again)
Banana pandemic. Just a half century ago, then the most popular bananas became commercially extinct by a fungal disease called the Panama disease. It came out from Central America and quickly spread to other banana plantations all over the world. Fortunately, an alternative type of banana was commercialized and has been planted and produced to fill the needs.
However, that banana is facing the same problem, again. This time, the fungal disease is called Tropical Race 4, which originated in Indonesia and has been spreading quickly. Since most of the commercially traded bananas have no genetic diversity, one type of disease could wipe all of them out.
Can’t human ingenuity prevent the same problem?
Enjoy reading and learning what is happening to one of the most popular fruits in the world.


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