Metabolite fingerprinting of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) root for the identification of altered metabolic pathways associated with basal stem rot (BSR) disease

Basal stem rot (BSR) disease caused by Ganoderma boninense has remained as one of the major obstacles in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) plantation. BSR is a destructive disease, which contributes to significant yield losses and impacts to the oil palm industry. However, to date, there is still no effective control of the disease. Metabolite fingerprinting is an established non-targeted screening approach to classify samples based on metabolite patterns that change in response to G. boninense infection in oil palm. This study aimed to compare the metabolic profiles of natural Ganoderma-infected and healthy control oil palm root samples using liquid chromatographyquadrupole/time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC-Q/TOF-MS) combined with multivariate data analysis (MVDA) and to identify potential metabolic pathway(s) involved in response to BSR. MVDA revealed differential metabolites from oil palm root associated with natural Ganoderma-infected vs. healthy oil palms. A systematic metabolic pathway analysis of differential metabolites discovered the significant involvement of amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism and biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites in response to BSR disease. Unravelling the metabolic mechanisms involved during pathogen attack provides new knowledge and fill gaps in the information related to the oil palm-Ganoderma pathosystem.