Worse Comes to Worst: Bananas and Panama Disease—When Plant and Pathogen Clones Meet, PLOS Pathogens (2015). Despite rich genetic and phenotypic diversity [4], only a few clones developed, over time, into global commodities—either as dessert bananas, such as the triploid “Cavendish” clones, or as important staple foods such as cooking bananas and plantains [4,5]. This facilitates the rapid rollout of genetically identical plants, which have consumer-preferred traits and outstanding agronomical performance, onto vast acreages around the world. The soil-borne fungus enters the banana plant through the root and eventually kills the entire plant. Panama disease is caused by the Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense fungus. One of the Fusarium strains is called 'Tropical Race 4' (TR4) and infects many local banana varieties as well as the widely exported Cavendish banana, which is very susceptible to this strain. Clearly, the current expansion of the Panama disease epidemic is particularly destructive due to the massive monoculture of susceptible Cavendish bananas. That's why we have to intensify awareness campaigns to reach small and large-scale growers in order to help them with developing and implementing quarantine measures preventing the fungus from continued spreading.' This shows that this Fusarium clone, also known as Tropical Race 4, is continuing to spread despite the quarantine measures, with disastrous results for banana growers.
– If you like bananas, it's time to start savoring them while you still can. A deadly fungus that's been killing the plant since the 1960s has jumped continents, moving from where it ravaged crops for decades in Southeast Asia to parts of South Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and Africa—and that's just since 2013, reports Quartz. The so-called "Panama" disease is spreading thanks to a single clone of the Fusarium fungus, also called Tropical Race 4, scientists report in the journal PLOS Pathogens. Worse still, one of the world's most popular bananas, the Cavendish, is particularly susceptible to this strain. The soil-borne fungus travels up the plant's roots, ultimately killing the plant and infesting entire banana plots, which are then contaminated for years. Entire swaths of banana plantations in Australia, China, the Philippines, Jordan, Mozambique, Pakistan, and beyond have been infested in the past two years, putting many farmers and families out of business and cutting them off from a major food source, reports PhysOrg. Right now the only way to fight the disease is through strict quarantine, so researchers are trying to spread the word about effective measures in the hopes of getting a step ahead of the fast-spreading fungus before it hits Latin America, where most of the world's bananas are grown. Once it lands there, notes Quartz, "the days of the iconic yellow fruit are numbered." (Some researchers hope it's possible to genetically modify bananas to resist the fungus.)