The world’s most popular banana faces extinction. Researchers are racing to find a solution.

The Yelloway project used conventional breeding techniques — not genetic modification — to make its new banana.

The tricky part with that process is that researchers can’t simply cross the Cavendish with more resilient varieties because the Cavendish is seedless and therefore sterile.

Instead, the researchers are looking for the traits in other banana varieties that match a Cavendish’s taste and hardiness.

To that end, Yelloway is studying the DNA of 150 banana varieties, to make a kind of banana family tree, Fernando García-Bastidas, the head of the banana breeding program at KeyGene, told BI.

The Yelloway One is on track to flower and produce bananas, but it’s not yet ready to arrive in grocery stores.

The next step is to test how it fares in enemy territory. Researchers will grow Yelloway One in the Philippines and Indonesia, where TR4 — a fungal disease — has decimated banana plants.

Ensuring history doesn’t repeat itself a third time

The Cavendish only became the world’s most widely eaten banana in the second half of the 20th century. Before that, the Gros Michel variety reigned supreme.

But in the 1950s, a fungus called TR1 wiped out the Gros Michel. The Cavendish, which is resistant to the disease, became growers’ new go-to fruit.

Now that TR4 is spreading, growers and scientists don’t want to make the same mistake again of relying on a single banana variety.

That’s why Yelloway is involved in creating other banana varieties, too.

“It’s not looking to just improve upon the Cavendish,” Stedman said. “It’s trying to create strength and biodiversity.”

Li-Jun Ma, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst studying the banana-killing fungi, agrees we shouldn’t rely on a single banana variety.

“We should find ways to enhance the diversity in our market,” she told Business Insider.

Ultimately, Yelloway researchers envision a future where grocery stores offer multiple banana varieties. There will still be a place for the Cavendish on grocery shelves, but they won’t be your only option.