RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 31 (2) June 2019, p. 220-237

cDNA-SSR MARKERS FOR MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF Ganoderma boninense

TUNG HUN JIAT*; SITA ASTARI**; GOH YOU KENG‡; GOH KAH JOO‡ and WONG WEI CHEE*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2019.0012
Published Online: 31-May-19
ABSTRACT

Basal stem rot (BSR) caused by Ganoderma boninense is the most devastating and yield-limiting disease for the oil palm industry in South-east Asia. Information on the population biology of G. boninense for testing important hypotheses concerning BSR infection is lacking. This article describes the development of the most discerning molecular marker to date, i.e. cDNA-SSR, in an attempt to evaluate the genetic diversity and epidemiology of G. boninense. The Belitung Island in Indonesia was chosen for this study because it has BSR disease spread in first generation plantings of oil palm, and geographically not connected to the Sumatra main island. There are considerable field experiences alongside the indepth genetic analyses presented here. The basidiocarps of Ganoderma collected from BSR and upper stem rot (USR) infected oil palm were confirmed as G. boninense by phylogenetic analysis. The marker data inferred that the G. boninense isolates were very diverse, with heterozygosity of 0.777, reflecting random mating and the outcrossing nature of this fungus. Clonal spread was not found in the present study and isolates were genetically different, from palm to palm. The hierarchical cluster analysis and distance-standardised principal coordinates analysis suggested G. boninense spread from the coastal region (north) to inland areas (south) on Belitung Island. Despite the very small sample size, the thorough analyses revealed major shortcomings and difficuties in developing a set of polymorphic cDNA-SSR markers for epidemiology of G. boninense.

KEYWORDS:


* Biotechnology Section,
Advanced Agriecological Research Sdn Bhd,
AAR-UNMC Biotechnology Research Centre,
Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: wongwc@aarsb.com.my

** PT Applied Agricultural Resources Indonesia (PT AARI,
Subsidiary company of Applied Agricultural Resources Sdn
Bhd), Kompleks Taman Anggrek Block D1,
Jl Tuanku Tambusai, Pekanbaru, 28291 Riau, Indonesia.

‡ Advanced Agriecological Research Sdn Bhd,
Jalan Teknologi 3/6, Taman Sains Selangor 1,
Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.