Tropentag, September 16 - 18, 2026, Göttingen "Towards multi-functional agro-ecosystems promoting climate-resilient futures"

RNA interference-based suppression of Fusarium wilt in banana for climate-resilient agroecosystems

¹Universiti Putra Malaysia, Inst. of Plantation Studies (IKP), Malaysia
²Universiti Putra Malaysia, Dept. of Agriculture Technology, Malaysia
³University of California Riverside, Dept. of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, United States
⁴Universiti Putra Malaysia, Dept. of Plant Protection, Malaysia

Abstract

Banana is among the world's most exported fresh fruits and a staple food for millions of people in tropical regions. However, global banana production is increasingly threatened by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Tropical Race 4 (FocTR4), a destructive soil-borne pathogen that causes severe yield losses and threatens sustainable banana production in tropical agroecosystems. Conventional disease management strategies that rely on toxic soil fumigants and chemical pesticides remain largely ineffective because of the pathogen's long-term persistence in soil and the limited availability of resistant cultivars. RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a promising, environmentally friendly approach to sustainable plant disease management through sequence-specific gene silencing. While previous RNAi studies targeting FocTR4 have focused solely on the single gene DCL2, the functional roles of DCL1 and potential redundancy between DCL1 and DCL2 in pathogenicity remain unexplored. In this study, we investigate the RNAi machinery of FocTR4, with emphasis on both Dicer-like genes DCL1 and DCL2, which regulate small RNA biogenesis and may contribute to fungal pathogenicity. Preliminary expression analysis indicates that both genes are differentially regulated during interaction with banana roots, confirming their involvement in host–pathogen communication. To identify effective RNAi targets, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules are designed against two conserved domains of each DCL1 and DCL2. This enables a comparative analysis of silencing efficiency across different target types and both genes. The silencing efficiency of these target regions is currently being assessed. In parallel, fluorescently labelled dsRNA is used to monitor uptake by FocTR4 and movement within banana tissues to better understand cross-kingdom RNAi dynamics. The most effective dsRNA construct will be selected for nanoformulation to improve molecular stability, delivery efficiency, and persistence under real-world tropical field conditions. This work contributes to climate-resilient agroecosystems by reducing chemical inputs and supporting sustainable banana production.

Keywords: Banana, climate-resilient agriculture, dicer-like genes, Fusarium wilt, RNA interference

Contact Address: Wong Mui Yun, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Dept. of Plant Protection, 43400 Serdang, Malaysia, e-mail: muiyunupm.edu.my