(USNews) - Genetic diversity in the variety of fruits and vegetables we consume does not just expand the palate but protects plants from succumbing to attack from pests and diseases.

For instance, the vast majority of Americans buy one single variety of bananas, Cavendish. This banana is highly susceptible to the new strain of the fungal Panama Disease, Tropical Race-4, that threatens our future banana supply.

While a consumer outcry would rise up from the produce aisles if major supermarkets offered only one variety of apple, we've happily accepted the bland, uniform taste of the Cavendish banana. Unfortunately, bananas are not the only fruit crop where consumer preference has resulted in limited genetic diversity.

European wine grapes, or Vitis vinifera, are now grown nearly worldwide, but many of the major wine grape varieties are closely related to one another. The result is that most wines we drink in this country come from a limited pool of traditional grape varieties containing little genetic diversity.

Just as the banana industry is faced with a threat, the wine industry has already had the grape equivalent of Tropical Race-4. It was a microscopic root pest, phylloxera, which brought down the vineyards of Europe in the mid- to late-1800s.

Phylloxera is native to eastern North America, but no one realized its presence since our wild grapevines (such as Vitis riparia, Vitis rupestris and Vitis labrusca) are resistant to it. The grapevines cultivated here in the mid- to late-1800s (hybrids of Vitis labrusca such as Concord, Delaware and Ives) were tolerant of phylloxera feeding on their roots.

When phylloxera struck down the vineyards of Europe, the world turned to the source of the problem for a potential solution. But being accustomed to the refined flavors and aromas of Vitis vinifera, the French reportedly abhorred wine made from the "foxy" grapes grown in the U.S. at the time.

As a result of French inability to appreciate the taste of wine made from Vitis labrusca hybrids,breeding programs were developed to cross wild North American grape species with traditional Vitis vinifera, to produce grape varieties with high fruit quality and resistance to phylloxera.

The first few generations of these interspecific hybrids were less than notable. They were resistant to phylloxera but the quality was lacking. But those early hybrids formed the backbone of breeding programs at land-grant institutions such as Cornell University, University of Minnesota and the University of California-Davis that used (and still use) traditional breeding techniques to produce varieties with complex parentages. As a result, these lineages are more robust to defend against attacks from pests and diseases.

There is now an incredible array of genetic diversity in wine grapes growing east of the Rockies, because many of these regions are too cold or too humid for Vitis vinifera to thrive. Traminette, the signature wine from the state of Indiana, is an offspring of a cross between Gewurztraminer and a breeding line containing wild species. Its aroma is reminiscent of Gewurztraminer, but it's more cold-hardy and disease resistant – requiring fewer fungal sprays each season compared to its Gewurztraminer parent.

Blanc du bois, grown in Texas, is resistant to Pierce's Disease, a bacterial infection common in warmer climates. This variety produces a range of wine styles from sparkling to dessert wines.

New varieties such as Frontenac and Marquette rely on a genetic background that includes Vitis riparia to withstand the winters in in colder regions from Minnesota to Vermont. They not only produce high quality red wines but bring wine industries to regions such as the upper Midwest and northern New England, that would never have been able to grow classic Vitis vinifera wine grapes.