Tongka Langit or Fe’i banana (Musa troglodytarum L.) is a unique banana cultivar which grew and spread around the regions of Maluku islands and Papua. Yet, this banana was also found on the foot of mount Galunggung, West Java, raising the questing of its origin. Dr. Dwivany and her team studied the genetic relationship between Tongka Langit from Galunggung and Maluku islands and compared it with other bananas with different genomes using ITS2 DNA marker.  Based on the ITS2 sequence, Tongka Langit (TT genome) was distantly related with other banana genomes (AA, AAA, AAB, AB, ABB, and BB). The ITS2 sequence of Tongka Langit Galunggung and Maluku were 100% identical, suggesting that these two bananas are originated from a common ancestor.

Article Citation:

Dwivany, FM., Stefani, G., Sutanto, A., Nugrahapraja, H., Wikantika, K., Hiariej, A.,  Hidayat, T.,  Rai, IN., Sukriandi, N. 2020. Genetic Relationship between Tongka Langit Bananas (Musa troglodytarum L.) from Galunggung and Maluku, Indonesia, Based on ITS2. HAYATI J Biosci, 259: 27.

Full paper is published in HAYATI Journal of Biosciences : http://journal.ipb.ac.id/index.php/hayati/article/view/33473

Image (first page):

Tangka Langit Banana in Mount Galungung, West Java (Source: Dwivany et al. 2020)

Profile of Dr. Fenny M. Dwivany:  https://sith.itb.ac.id/en/fennymartha/