| dc.description.abstract | Agarwood is the most expensive wood product and used in the incense and perfume industry. It is a dark resinous wood that forms in Aquilaria and Gyrinops trees (Thymelaeaceae family) under pathological conditions, mainly fungal infection. In order to isolate endophytic microorganisms associated with agarwood at Taimali Township, Taitung County, Taiwan, samples were aseptically taken with an increment borer from living wood (containing presumably fresh agarwood and healthy wood), standardized borecores as well as cut off non-standardized agarwood from exposed old agarwood from living stems of a ca. 20-years-old plantation of A. sinensis. Microbial strains were classified to morphospecies and identified to species with specific molecular genetic markers depending on the systematic groups of fungi or bacteria. A total of 617 strains comprising 34 fungal and 7 bacterial species were identified from 4 collection events between February 2017 and February 2018. Strains of Lasiodiplodia hormozganensis (34 strains, 5.5% of total strains) were isolated at every collection event, 2 from discolored wood, 0 from non-agarwood and 32 from dead agarwood. Strains of Trichoderma lentiforme (236 strains, 38.3% of total strains) were isolated at three collections, 175 associated with discolored wood, 29 from non-agarwood and 32 from dead agarwood. Aspergillus fijiensis, Fusarium solani species 28 and Phaeoacremonium rubrigenum were isolated at two collection events. Bacteria (Paenibacillus lautus, 41 strains, 6.7% of total strains) were almost only isolated from dead agarwood. T. lentiforme and L. hormozganensis species identified as candidate pathogens were used in inoculation experiments in two-year-old A. sinensis. The study lays the foundation for the development of endophytic fungi for artificial infection methods in A. sinensis to induce agarwood and promote the agarwood industry in Taiwan. | en_US |