Abstract
Basal stem rot, 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, and 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. 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. DS 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 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%.
Highlights
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), the world’s most efficient oil-bearing tree (Gardner et al, 2010; Parveez et al, 2015) is an important economic crop in the tropics
At 4 wpi (DS at 5%), no external symptoms were observed in the infected seedlings (Figure 1B), root surface examination revealed a low level of fungal attachments
Root tissues of the control seedlings were visually large and healthy-looking in absence of any lesion (Figure 1F), whereas the root tissues of the infected seedlings were relatively small and mycelium attachments were found at random positions (Figure 1G)
Summary
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), the world’s most efficient oil-bearing tree (Gardner et al, 2010; Parveez et al, 2015) is an important economic crop in the tropics. The perennial crop grows in hot and humid conditions and the average yield ranges from 3 to 4 tons of oil per hectare per year (Wahid et al, 2005; Sumathi et al, 2008; Basiron, 2016). The full economic yield potential of oil palm is estimated to range from 8 to 12 tons of oil per hectare per year under efficient cultivation practices which consider fertilization, irrigation, good planting material, favorable climate and successful disease management practices (Singh, 2014). A major challenge to agricultural research communities is to maximize production on the currently cultivated lands using cost-effective measures (Ravigadevi et al, 2009; Murphy, 2014)
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