Ganoderma orbiforme
Shelf fungus, worst disease of oilpalm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ganoderma orbiforme – most commonly known as G. boninense or just Ganoderma in oil palm pathology – is a species of polypore fungus that is widespread across southeast Asia. It is a plant pathogen that causes basal stem rot, a disease of the African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). The fungus was first described scientifically in 1838 by Elias Magnus Fries from collections made in Guinea.[1] Leif Ryvarden transferred it to the genus Ganoderma in 2000.[2] In addition to its type locality, the fungus has also been collected from the Bonin Islands in the Pacific, and from Venezuela and Puerto Rico.[2]
| Ganoderma orbiforme | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Polyporales |
| Family: | Ganodermataceae |
| Genus: | Ganoderma |
| Species: | G. orbiforme |
| Binomial name | |
| Ganoderma orbiforme | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Transmission
G. orbiforme is not a soil borne pathogen, meaning it does not grow in soil and does not infiltrate from soil and into the root system.[3]: 417 It is however also not killed by soil, and will reside in dead, buried palm trunk material.[3]: 417 This has especially been observed when Oryctes rhinoceros-infested material was buried.[3]: 417
Infection
G. orbiforme has a hemibiotrophic lifestyle in E. guineensis.[4] During an invasion, E. guineensis roots stockpile salicylic acid, which is a signal to downregulate its own expression of ascorbate oxidase and ascorbate peroxidase.[5] AO and AP are reactive oxygen species scavengers, and so the total effect is to increase ROS production.[5] This entire pathway was found by Ho et al., 2016.[5] Increased ROS is effective against hemibiotrophs but counterproductive against necrotrophs.[5]
Genetics
Microsatellite markers have been developed to help identify the fungus and study the genetic diversity of G. orbiforme.[6]