How Australia’s Genetically Modified, Disease-Resistant Banana Could Prevent A Global Crop Collapse

In a small plot in the Northern Territory, banana plants have thrived for almost a decade in soil that should kill them. According to those who have tried the fruit, they taste exactly like a banana should. But the plants near Humpty Doo have a secret hiding in their DNA: A genetic modification that protects bananas from a disease that is on the verge of wiping out crops around the world. James Dale, an agricultural biotechnology researcher at the Queensland University of Technology, helped develop the disease-resistant banana — the world’s first genetically modified banana to be approved in Australia.

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