影响香蕉生产的真菌病害有枯萎病、黄叶斑病、黑叶斑病等,尤其是枯萎病4号小种,危害严重,造成毁灭性损失,目前尚无理想的防治药剂,迫切需要培育抗枯萎病的香蕉品种,但是栽培香蕉多为三倍体,难以通过有性杂交的方式改良。抗病基因工程是提高香蕉抗枯萎病能力的途径之一,随着香蕉转基因技术体系的建立和逐步完善,香蕉抗病基因资源的挖掘及植物抗病新基因的不断克隆,利用基因工程技术创造抗病新种质、培育抗病香蕉品种将成为可能。
Cultivation of banana and plantain is now threatened by many fungal diseases, of which the fungal disease, Panama wilt in particular, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Cubense (race 4) is most serious that caused dramatic crop damage and economic loss. As almost all banana and plantain cultivars are highly susceptible to race 4 of this pathogen and the chemical and cultural control measures are not efficient, the creation of new banana varieties resistant to this disease is crucial. Cross breeding program is difficult to be conducted due to the predominantly asexual behavior of edible bananas, which are triploid and sterile. With the development and optimization of genetic transformation protocol in banana and the discovery of more genes resistant to pathogens, the genetic engineering of banana has paved a new way for its improvement.