Submitted to: PLoS Genetics
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/27/2016
Publication Date: 8/11/2016
Citation: Friesen, T.L. 2016. Combating the Sigatoka disease complex on banana. PLoS Genetics. 12(8):e1006234. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006234.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Banana is the fourth most important staple food in the world behind rice, wheat and maize, with more than 100 million tons produced annually. Although the majority of bananas produced are consumed locally, banana export is a multi-billion dollar business. Bananas are grown in more than 100 countries worldwide, largely in developing countries in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Arango and colleagues have sequenced, assembled, and begun to characterize the genome of P. fijiensis a destructive pathogen of banana using full genome sequencing of two different P. fijiensis isolates. The resulting 74 Mb assembly is currently one of the largest genomes sequenced in the Dothideomycete class. Chang et al. performed a comparative analysis of P. fijiensis, P. eumusae, and P. musae, all pathogens of banana that are thought to have evolved from a single ancestor. This research lays the groundwork for future studies aimed at protecting the banana crop in developing parts of the world.