一个没有香蕉的世界很快就会降临

快速传播的真菌会导致香蕉灭绝

Imagine a world with no bananas: no banana for breakfast smoothies, no peanut butter and banana sandwiches at lunch and no banana splits for dessert.

想象一个没有香蕉的世界:早餐没有香蕉奶昔，午餐没有花生酱和香蕉三明治，甜点也没有香蕉片。

This tragic scenario could soon be a reality.

这种悲惨的情况很快就会成为现实。

A deadly fungus that plagued banana plantations in Southeast Asia for 30 years has made the inevitable leap to Latin America, where much of the world’s bananas are grown.

一种致命的真菌在东南亚香蕉种植园肆虐了30年，如今它已不可避免地向拉丁美洲蔓延，而世界上大部分香蕉都生长在拉丁美洲。

The Colombian Agricultural Institute confirmed on Aug. 8 that it had found a strain of the Fusarium oxysporum fungus, called Tropical Race 4 (TR4).

哥伦比亚农业研究所8月8日证实，他们发现了一种名为热带种4 (TR4)的镰刀菌。

Feds declared a national state of emergency, ordering farmers to quarantine plantations and destroy crops in the north, where the fungus was discovered.

联邦调查局宣布全国进入紧急状态，命令农民隔离种植园，并摧毁北部发现真菌的农作物。

“What we’re having is an almost apocalyptic scenario where we’ll probably lose Cavendish [the most widely cultivated banana] as well,” Sarah Gurr, Exeter University’s chair in food security, told Wired.

埃克塞特大学食品安全系主任莎拉•古尔在接受《连线》杂志采访时表示:“我们面临的是一种近乎世界末日的情景，我们可能也会失去卡文迪什香蕉(种植最广泛的香蕉)。”

“Once it’s in a country it’s very hard to get rid of it,” added Dan Bebber, a bio-sciences lecturer at Exeter.

埃克塞特生物科学讲师丹•贝伯补充道：“一旦它进入一个国家，就很难摆脱。”

The current plight of the banana has a familiar historical arc.

香蕉目前的困境有历史轨迹可寻。

Before the mid-20th century, wild banana varieties existed aplenty, grown around the world, each with unique flavors, textures and colors. But as industrialized agriculture boomed in the early 1900s, only the strongest and most prominent type was selected for the purpose global banana domination — the Cavendish banana.

20世纪中叶以前，野生香蕉品种繁多，遍布世界各地，每一种都有独特的风味、质地和颜色。但随着工业化农业在20世纪初的蓬勃发展，只有最强壮和最突出的品种被选中，以达到统治全球香蕉的目的——卡文迪什香蕉。

At the time, the Cavendish was the only type of banana formidable enough to replace the prior reigning champion banana, the Gros Michel. Those were being wiped out by — you guessed it — a proto-strain of the Fusarium fungus.

当时，卡文迪什香蕉是唯一一种强大到足以取代上届冠军大麦克香蕉的香蕉。你猜对了，其余都被镰刀菌的原菌种消灭了。

Unfortunately, as nature has demonstrated time and again, the lack of genetic variance does a species no favors, and the once-hardy Cavendish is now being threatened by its own plague.

不幸的是，正如大自然一再证明的那样，缺乏基因变异对物种没有好处，曾经顽强的卡文迪什如今正受到自身瘟疫的威胁。

The disease was first discovered in Taiwan in 1989, followed by other Western Hemisphere Cavendish banana producers such as Lebanon, Israel, India and Australia. The disease spreads in the soil, easily transmitted via tractor tires, work boots and replanted specimens. TR4 can lie dormant for years until it’s soaked up along with water through the plant’s roots, and then starves the banana of nutrients.

该病于1989年在台湾首次发现，随后是黎巴嫩、以色列、印度和澳大利亚等西半球卡文迪什香蕉生产国。这种疾病在土壤中传播，很容易通过拖拉机轮胎、工作靴和重新种植的样本传播。TR4可以休眠数年，直到它与水一起通过植物的根部被吸收，然后让香蕉失去营养。

Considering the infection can go undetected for some time, it’s difficult to know how widespread it is already. Farmers have tried to contain the pathogen by destroying crops, quarantining farms, and diligently cleaning farm equipment and the people working there. None of it worked: In 1997, a TR4 outbreak hit Australia’s Northern Territory, and the fungus has since spread north to Queensland.

考虑到这种感染在一段时间内无法被发现，很难知道它已经有多广泛。农民们试图通过破坏农作物、隔离农场、努力清洗农场设备和在那里工作的人们来遏制这种病菌。但这些都没有奏效:1997年，澳大利亚北领地爆发了一场TR4病毒的爆发，之后这种真菌向北传播到了昆士兰州。

Bebber predicts a “rapid spread” throughout Latin America. Some scientists are looking to gene-editing as a potential solution, or cross-breeding with other bananas to produce a more robust fruit.

Bebber预测整个拉丁美洲将会“迅速蔓延”。一些科学家正在寻找基因编辑作为一个潜在的解决方案，或与其他香蕉杂交，以生产出更健壮的水果。

But for now, the spread of the disease could mean the end of bananas as we know them. Scientists say it’s a wake-up call for the modern farm industry.

但就目前而言，这种疾病的传播可能意味着香蕉的末日。科学家称这是对现代农业的一个警钟。