Sensitization profiles to purified plant food allergens among pediatric patients with allergy to banana.

Banana fruit allergy is well known, but neither immunoglobulin E recognition patterns to purified plant food allergens nor true prevalences of putative banana allergens have been established. This study aimed to characterize β-1,3-glucanase and thaumatin-like protein (TLP) as banana allergens, testing them, together with other plant food allergens, in 51 children with allergic reactions after banana ingestion and both positive specific IgE and skin prick test (SPT) to banana. Banana β-1,3-glucanase and TLP were isolated and characterized. Both banana allergens, together with kiwifruit TLP Act d 2, avocado class I chitinase Pers a 1, palm pollen profilin Pho d 2 and peach fruit lipid transfer protein (LTP) Pru p 3, were tested by in vitro and in vivo assays. Banana β-1,3-glucanase (Mus a 5) was glycosylated, whereas banana TLP (Mus a 4) was not, in contrast with its homologous kiwi allergen Act d 2. Specific IgE to both banana allergens, as well as to peach Pru p 3, was found in over 70% of sera from banana-allergic children, and Mus a 4 and Pru p 3 provoked positive SPT responses in 6 of the 12 tested patients, whereas Mus a 5 in only one of them. Both peptidic epitopes and cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants were involved in the IgE-binding to Mus a 5, whereas cross-reactivity between Mus a 4 and Act d 2 was only based on common IgE protein epitopes. Profilin Pho d 2 elicited a relevant proportion of positive responses on in vitro (41%) and in vivo (58%) tests. Therefore, Mus a 4 and LTP behave as major banana allergens in the study population, and profilin seems to be also a relevant allergen. Mus a 5 is an equivocal allergenic protein, showing high IgE-binding to its attached complex glycan, and low in vivo potency

Towards gender-responsive banana research for development in the East-African Highlands

Banana production is an important livelihood for farming households in the East-African highlands as food and as a source of income. Banana is a crop with a long history in this region. Although not originating from Africa, it is believed bananas have been cultivated in this region since 2000 BC. It is not surprising that the technical aspects of banana production are intertwined with rituals, habits, and social norms. In this guide, we highlight and discuss social norms surrounding banana production, zooming in specifically on gender norms. Understanding these norms coupled with the ability to address them is essential for the development and design of high-quality banana-focused research for development (R4D) projects which benefit men as well as women

Risk assessment and management of Banana streak viruses in Guadeloupe.Session 6. Oral 54

Several species of Banana streak virus (BSV) occur in banana. They cause a wide range of symptoms on leaves, pseudostem and fruits, although the impact of infections on yield and fruit quality has never been properly assessed. BSVs are naturally transmitted by mealybugs. However, spontaneous infections occur in interspecific varieties such as plantains, following stress-induced activation of infectious endogenous BSV sequences (eBSVs) integrated in B (Musa balbisiana) genomes. The kinetics of activation of infectious eBSVs was monitored in Guadeloupe in an experimental plot, using a random block design. It showed that infectious eBSVs display differential activation potentials in plantain varieties French Clair and Pelipita, pointing to a role of plant genetic background in the activation process. It also showed that the multiplication mode of planting material influences activation levels monitored under field conditions and that infection had no significant impact on plant growth and fruit production of both varieties. A wide range prevalence study of BSVs undertaken throughout Guadeloupe's plantations, Creole gardens, abandoned fields and wild areas among varieites representative of the main dessert banana and plantain types grown in Guadeloupe showed that overall BSV prevalence were low in dessert banana and cooking banana. Compared with a similar survey carried out in 2006, prevalence was very similar for dessert banana but significantly lower for plantains, which carry eBSVs that interfere with molecular diagnostic and cause frequent false positives. It is likely that the recent optimization of BSV molecular diagnostic increased the accuracy of detection. Overall, these results suggest that BSVs have a low prevalence and unmeasurable impact on dessert banana and plantain in Guadeloupe, owing to low vector-borne transmission and low activation of infectious eBSVs. These results also lead to recommendation regarding the management of BSVs through safe multiplication modes of plantain planting material. (Résumé d'auteur

THE MAKING OF FASHION PRODUCT USING SURFACE TEXTILE DESIGN INSPIRED FROM BANANA LEAF AS BANDUNG TRADITIONAL FOOD WRAPPING

Nowadays, many fashion products are inspired by the visual from food. This phenomenon is known as food fashion trends. Generally, fast food becomes the main inspiration for this trend. Bandung as a culinary center since 1941, and as a storefront of Sundanese culture has uniqueness in treating food, such as the tradition of using banana leaf as a dining mat. Utilization of banana leaf continues to be used by Sundanese people until now, especially in traditional Sundanese food in Bandung. Visual of banana leaf food wrappers can use as inspiration of product fashion design. It has a unique color, texture, and various ways to wrap. Until now, not many fashion products that apply food fashion trends are inspired by elements of local wisdom. The author will use fresh banana leaves as well as those processed banana leaf as visual inspiration. The visual character will then be processed by manipulating fabric and digital printing techniques into sheets of fabric which are then processed into ready-to-wear clothing. It is hoped we can provide alternative fashionable fashion products and introduce local wisdom to the broader community. Keywords: Banana Leaf, Surface Textile Design, Sundanese, Bandun

Reality of virus infections in banana and plantain in Democratic Republic of Congo. [P.61]

Viral diseases of banana are one of the major constraints to the production and distribution of germoplasm of banana in the world. To date, six viruses have been listed on banana: Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV), Banana streak virus (BSV), Banana bract mosaic virus (BBrMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Banana mild mosaic virus (BMMV), Banana virus x (BVX). In Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the first viral disease of banana was found, for the first time, in 1950 in Yangambi, Kisangani region. To date, the distribution of BBTV remains mostly unknown and other banana viruses (BSV, CMV, BBrMV, BMMV, BVX) have not yet been reported. With the aim to describe and establish the frequency of the viruses involved to major viral diseases on banana (Banana bunchy top virus, Banana streak virus, Banana bract mosaic virus, Cucumber mosaic virus) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, epidemiological surveys were conducted in 2011, 2012 and 2013 in the South West of the Democratic Republic of Congo. For BBTV at least 216 samples were collected in 2011 and 2012, for BS, CMV, BBrMV and 450 samples were collected and 306 samples were analyzed using PCR, IC - PCR, IC-One-step-RT-PCR and RT - PCR techniques to detect respectively BBTV, BSV, CMV, and BBrMV. Results indicate that Banana bunchy top virus is the most prevalent virus of banana, in South Western of Democratic Republic of Congo (frequency = 44,6%). The highest frequency was observed in Bas Congo province of Bas Congo with a frequency of 17.8% in contrast, the lowest frequency was observed in Katanga province. Banana streak virus exists in natural condition and express symptoms of Banana streak disease. The most widespread BSV specie is Goldfinger (BSGFV) with a frequency of 64%. This study reveals that there is a transmission of Banana streak virus from banana containing genome B with eBSV integration to Musa acuminata strict, without integrated sequences. Furthermore, the frequency of vector is 9.3%. These results suggest an emergence of Banana streak disease in the study area. Analysis of the frequency of the Cucumber mosaic virus shows that the virus is widespread in all types of cropping systems including vegetables spaces whose N'Djili brasserie, Kimpoko and Kisantu. Very surprisingly CMV is missing from Mbanzangungu one of the largest vegetable crop production site. Performant analyses for the detection of Banana bract mosaic virus have proved negative. These results suggest that the BBrMV remains absent from the study area. (Résumé d'auteur

Management of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt: Evidence from impact of adoption of cultural control practices in Uganda

Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) is an important emerging and non-curable infectious plant pathogen in sub-Saharan Africa that can cause up to 100% yield loss, negatively impacting sustainable access to food and income to more than 100 million banana farmers. This study disentangles adopters into partial and full adopters to investigate the factors that are relevant to sustain the adoption process of BXW control practices and quantifies the impact of adopting the practices. Data from a randomly selected sample of 1200 banana farmers in Uganda where the disease is endemic was used. A multinomial logit model was used to determine the factors affecting adoption of control practices and augmented inverse probability weighting was employed to estimate the impacts of adoption on banana productivity and sales. Results show that training a woman farmer and having diverse sources of information about BXW control practices increased adoption of the control practices and reduced the disease incidences. Farmers who adopted all the recommended control practices achieved significantly the highest values of banana production and sales. We conclude that improving information access through farmers’ preferred communication channels, having women-inclusive trainings, and a combination of cultural practices are effective ways for sustaining adoption of the control practices

Evolution of gene families involved in banana fruit development and ripening : W077

A reference genome sequence of banana was recently obtained from a Musa acuminata doubled-haploid accession (DH-Pahang, 523 Mb) and organized into eleven pseudomolecules. This genome opens brand new perspectives for the identification of genes underlying key physiological processes and agricultural traits in this economically important species. To identify genes involved in banana fruit development and ripening, we used a whole genome-scale approach combining phylogenomic analyses and gene expression profiling. Global analysis of gene expression in banana fruits in response to ethylenic treatment was performed using RNA-seq. In parallel, gene families involved in core ethylene biosynthesis/signaling pathways and starch/sucrose metabolism were identified in the Musa genome using comparative genomics and phylogenomic analyses with eleven plant species. Our results showed a progressive global reprogramming of banana fruits during ripening characterized by an inhibition of the downstream ethylene signaling pathway. In addition, we identified expansions of gene families encoding transcriptional regulation elements of the ethylene signaling pathway in Musa. These expansions are currently analyzed in relation to Musa whole genome duplications. Finally, the combined structural and gene expression analyses led to the identification of candidate genes and gene family members involved in banana fruit ripening. (Résumé d'auteur

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS: SOME LESSONS FROM THE PILOT TISSUE-CULTURE (TC) BANANA PRODUCTION PROMOTION PROJECT IN KENYA, 1997-2002

This article is based on a socio-economic impact study of the introduction and adoption of tissue-culture (tc) technology in banana production in Kenya. It attempts to demonstrate that a prudent introduction and promotion of a new biotechnological innovation in farming can make a positive contribution to the socio-economic status of resource poor farmers in a developing country, such as Kenya. Adoption of tc technology in banana production in Kenya is considered a good example of biotechnological applications in agriculture. Hence the article hopes to make a contribution to recent debates at international levels as to whether biotechnology can make a difference in uplifting the living standards of people in the third world (Qaim, 1999; Graff, et al 2002; Qaim, et al 2002) by showing that it actually does so, using experiences from Kenya. The study utilizes both primary and secondary data sources. The results show that tc-banana production is relatively more capital intensive than non-tc banana production (re: about 70% fixed costs for tc banana versus about 49% fixed costs for non-tc banana). However, tc-banana production is found to offer relatively much higher financial returns than non-tc banana production. The high profitability of tc-banana production relative to traditional (non-tc) banana production and other farm enterprises in the pilot tc-banana project area in Kenya demonstrates the importance of biotechnological applications in rural development and shows that biotechnology can make a difference in uplifting the living standards of people in the third world. Therefore, efforts to promote tc-banana production in Kenya are justifiable from both food security and economic criteria.Biotechnology and Tissue-Culture (tc) Banana, Adoption, Socio-economic Impact, Rural Development, Third World, Kenya., Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

How eBSV polymorphism could enlighten BSV and banana evolution story?

The nuclear genome of banana plants is invaded by numerous viral sequences of banana streak viruses (BSV), a DNA virus belonging to the family Caulimoviridae. These integrations are mostly defective as a result of pseudogenisation driven by the host genome evolution. Conversely some named infectious, can release a functional viral genome following activating stresses. We characterized the infectious endogenous BSV (eBSV) for three BSV species (BSOLV, BSGFV and BSImV) present within the Musa balbisiana B genome of the seedy diploid Pisang Klutuk Wulung (PKW). Our aim is to study PKW-related BSV integrations among the diversity of the banana B genomes in order to retrace the evolutionary BSV and banana stories We extended on purpose the M. balbisiana diversity by the addition of interspecific hybrids with M. acuminata showing different levels of ploidy for the B genome (ABB, AAB, AB) of the banana sample in order to include unsampled or extinct M. balbisiana ressources. We also based the analysis referring to the two areas of sympatry between M. acuminata and M. balbisiana and the centers of origin for the most largely cultivated AAB cultivars. One was in India and the other one in East Asia going from Philippines to New Guinea (Perrier et al, 2009). We characterized the PKW-related eBSV allelic polymorphism using PCR markers (described in poster Galzi & Duroy et al.) and Southern blots on 77 accessions. We codified the results of Southern blot and PCR in order to calculate a common dissimilarity matrix and interpret the eBSV distribution. As a result, three dendrograms of PKW-related eBSV made with the Neighbor Joining (NJ) method on the 77 banana accessions, for each BSV species, are presented as well as one dendogram resulting of NJ analysis for the three BSV species all together . We show that the known phylogeny of banana accessions can enlighten the eBSV structure diversity and that eBSV polymorphisms can help to understand the particularly unresolved M. balbisiana diversity. An evolutionary scheme of BSV/eBSV banana evolution will be proposed. (Texte intégral

An assessment of the benefits of yellow Sigatoka (Mycosphaerella musicola) control in the Queensland Northern Banana Pest Quarantine Area

The banana leaf spotting disease yellow Sigatoka is established and actively controlled in Australia through intensive chemical treatments and diseased leaf removal. In the State of Queensland, the State government imposes standards for de-leafing to minimise the risk of the disease spreading in 6 banana pest quarantine areas. Of these, the Northern Banana Pest Quarantine Area is the most significant in terms of banana production. Previous regulations imposed obligations on owners of banana plants within this area to remove leaves from plants with visible spotting on more than 15 per cent of any leaf during the wet season. Recently, this leaf disease threshold has been lowered to 5 per cent. In this paper we examine the likely impact this more-costly regulation will have on the spread of the disease. We estimate that the average net benefit of reducing the diseased leaf threshold is only likely to be $1.4 million per year over the next 30 years, expressed as the annualised present value of tightened regulation. This result varies substantially when the timeframe of the analysis is changed, with shorter time frames indicating poorer net returns from the change in protocols. Overall, the benefit of the regulation change is likely to be minor