Basal stem rot (BSR), caused by the basidiomycete fungus, Ganoderma boninense, is an economically devastating disease in Malaysia. Our study investigated the changes in lignin content and composition along with activity and expression of the phenylpropanoid pathway enzymes and genes in oil palm root tissues during G. boninense infection. We sampled control (non-inoculated) and infected (inoculated) seedlings at seven time points (1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12 weeks post-inoculation (wpi)) in a randomized design. The expression profiles of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), and peroxidase (POD) genes were monitored at 1, 2, and 3 wpi using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Seedlings at 4, 8, and 12 wpi were screened for lignin content, lignin composition, enzyme activities (PAL, CAD and POD), growth (weight and height), and disease severity (DS). Gene expression analysis demonstrated up-regulation of PAL, CAD, and POD genes in the infected seedlings, relative to the control seedlings at 1, 2, and 3 wpi. At 2 and 3 wpi, CAD showed highest transcript levels compared to PAL and POD. Disease severity increased progressively throughout sampling, with 5, 34, and 69% at 4, 8, and 12 wpi, respectively. Fresh weight and height of the infected seedlings were significantly lower compared to the control seedlings at 8 and 12 wpi. Lignin content of the infected seedlings at 4 wpi was significantly higher than the control seedlings, remained elicited with no change at 8 wpi, and then collapsed with a significant reduction at 12 wpi. The nitrobenzene oxidation products of oil palm root lignin yielded both syringyl and guaiacyl monomers. Accumulation of lignin in the infected seedlings was in parallel to increased syringyl monomers, at 4 wpi and 8 wpi. The activities of PAL and CAD enzymes in the infected seedlings at DS=5-34% were significantly higher than the control seedlings and thereafter collapsed at DS=69%.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa developed its biocontrol agent property through the production of antifungal derivatives, with the phenazine among them. In this study, the applications of crude phenazine synthesized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa UPMP3 and hexaconazole were comparatively evaluated for their effectiveness to suppress basal stem rot infection in artificially G. boninense-challenged oil palm seedlings. A glasshouse experiment under the randomized completely block design was set with the following treatments: non-inoculated seedlings, G. boninense inoculated seedlings, G. boninense inoculated seedlings with 1 mg/ml phenazine application, G. boninense inoculated seedlings with 2 mg/ml phenazine application and G. boninense inoculated seedlings with 0.048 mg/ml hexaconazole application. Seedlings were screened for disease parameters and plant vigour traits (plant height, plant fresh weight, root fresh, and dry weight, stem diameter, and total chlorophyll) at 1-to-4 month post-inoculation (mpi). The application of 2 mg/ml phenazine significantly reduced disease severity (DS) at 44% in comparison to fungicide application (DS = 67%). Plant vigour improved from 1 to 4 mpi and the rate of disease reduction in seedlings with phenazine application (2 mg/ml) was twofold greater than hexaconazole. At 4, 6 and 8 wpi, an up-regulation of chitinase and β-1,3 glucanase genes in seedlings treated with phenazine suggests the involvement of induced resistance in G. boninense-oil palm pathosystem.

Basal stem rot (BSR) of oil palm is a disastrous disease caused by a white-rot fungus Ganoderma boninense Pat. Non-ribosomal peptides (NRPs) synthesized by non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are a group of secondary metabolites that act as fungal virulent factors during pathogenesis in the host. In this study, we aimed to isolate NRPS gene of G. boninense strain UPMGB001 and investigate the role of this gene during G. boninense-oil palm interaction. The isolated NRPS DNA fragment of 8322 bp was used to predict the putative peptide sequence of different domains and showed similarity with G. sinense (85%) at conserved motifs of three main NRPS domains. Phylogenetic analysis of NRPS peptide sequences demonstrated that NRPS of G. boninense belongs to the type VI siderophore family. The roots of 6-month-old oil palm seedlings were artificially inoculated for studying NRPS gene expression and disease severity in the greenhouse. The correlation between high disease severity (50%) and high expression (67-fold) of G. boninense NRPS gene at 4 months after inoculation and above indicated that this gene played a significant role in the advancement of BSR disease. Overall, these findings increase our knowledge on the gene structure of NRPS in G. boninense and its involvement in BSR pathogenesis as an effector gene.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the most economically important crop in Malaysia and the world’s highest yielding oil crop. In March 2018, irregular spots with gray centers, dark brown edges ...

Latex production from Hevea brasiliensis rubber tree is the second most important commodity in Malaysia, but this industry is threatened by the white root rot disease (WRD) caused by Rigidoporus microporus that leads to considerable latex yield loss and tree death. This study aimed to characterize and compare the virulence of five R. microporus isolates obtained from infected rubber trees located at different states in Malaysia. These isolates were subjected to morphological and molecular characterization for species confirmation and pathogenicity test for the determination of virulence level. BLAST search showed that the ITS sequences of all the pathogen isolates were 99% identical to R. microporus isolate SEG (accession number: MG199553) from Malaysia. The pathogenicity test of R. microporus isolates conducted in a nursery with 24 seedlings per isolate showed that isolate RL21 from Sarawak has developed the most severe above- and below-ground symptoms of WRD on the rubber clone RRIM600 as host. Six months after being infected with R. microporus, RL21 was evaluated with the highest average of disease severity index of 80.52% for above- and below-ground symptoms, followed by RL22 (68.65%), RL20 (66.04%), RL26 (54.38%), and RL25 (43.13%). The in vitro growth condition tests showed that isolate RL21 of R. microporus has optimum growth at 25–30 °C, with the preference of weakly acidic to neutral environments (pH 6–7). This study revealed that different virulence levels are possessed among different R. microporus isolates even though they were isolated from the same host species under the same climate region. Taken together, field evaluation through visual observation and laboratory assays have led to screening of the most virulent isolate. Determination of the most virulent isolate in the present study is vital and shall be taken into consideration for the selection of suitable pathogen isolate in the development of more effective control measures in combating tenacious R. microporus.