Genome editing for crop improvement in Musa spp.

Bananas and plantains are an important source of food and income for millions of persons in the world. Their production is constrained by many biotic and abiotic stress factors including fungal pathogens. The aim of this project is to apply the CRISPR/Cas9 system to cause mutations in sequences responsible for susceptibility of banana to fungal attack. As a result, we expect to obtain mutants with improved resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense race 4 (Foc4) and Mycosphaerella fijiensis , the major fungal diseases of Musa species.