--- title: Cavendish Bananas Could Go Extinct, Research Says description: It's happened before, and researchers say it could happen again canonical: https://time.com/4136886/banana-extinct/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-04T18:58:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:07:37.871Z article:section: Science og:title: The World’s Most Popular Banana Could Be Wiped Out og:description: It's happened before, and researchers say it could happen again og:url: https://time.com/4136886/banana-extinct/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba5abf927fc8a6d7/698873d9cd1bba707c6fe605/gettyimages-469801906.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FRANCE-FRUITS-MARKET og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The World’s Most Popular Banana Could Be Wiped Out twitter:description: It's happened before, and researchers say it could happen again twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba5abf927fc8a6d7/698873d9cd1bba707c6fe605/gettyimages-469801906.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The World’s Most Popular Banana Could Be Wiped Out by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Dec 4, 2015 6:58 PM UTC  A picture taken on April 15, 2015 shows bananas on display at the Talensac market in central Nantes, western France. A picture taken on April 15, 2015 shows bananas on display at the Talensac market in central Nantes, western France.GEORGES GOBET—AFP/Getty Images by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Dec 4, 2015 6:58 PM UTC A potent fungus is killing off banana plants and could eventually wipe out much of the fruit around the world, according to a [new study](http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005197). Research published in PLOS Pathogens reveals that a disease strain called Tropical Race 4 has affected banana crops in southeast Asia for decades and in recent years has expanded to the Middle East. Eventually the disease is expected to hit Latin America, where the majority of the world’s bananas are grown. This isn’t the first time a type of banana has faced being killed off. TR4 is a mutation of an earlier pathogen called Panama Disease, which effectively wiped out a sweeter banana type called Gros Michel in the mid-20th century. The bananas currently under threat, known as Cavendish, eventually replaced the Gros Michel as the dominant version of the fruit. But because the Cavendish are largely clones of each other, they’re extremely susceptible to TR4, with little variation among them that would allow some to defend themselves. The researchers recommend a host of “drastic strategy changes” to ensure bananas survive into the future, including better containment of infected bananas, improved treatment of contaminated soil and a more concerted global effort to cultivate new banana types. \[[_Washington_ _Post_\]](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/04/the-worlds-most-popular-banana-could-go-extinct/?tid=sm%5Ffb) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4136886/banana-extinct/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4136886/banana-extinct/"},"headline":"The World’s Most Popular Banana Could Be Wiped Out","datePublished":"2015-12-04T18:58:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:07:37.871Z","description":"It's happened before, and researchers say it could happen again","url":"https://time.com/4136886/banana-extinct/","keywords":["Food","bananas","fruit"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba5abf927fc8a6d7/698873d9cd1bba707c6fe605/gettyimages-469801906.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba5abf927fc8a6d7/698873d9cd1bba707c6fe605/gettyimages-469801906.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FRANCE-FRUITS-MARKET","caption":"FRANCE-FRUITS-MARKET","creditText":"GEORGES GOBET—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4136886/banana-extinct/","name":"The World’s Most Popular Banana Could Be Wiped Out"}}]}] ```