Abstract The basal stem rot (BSR) disease of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is caused by the white rot fungus, Ganoderma boninense (G. boninense). This study discusses the use of a biological control approach to treat BSR by using mycolytic enzymes producing bacteria as biocontrol agents against G. boninense. Bacteria producing mycolytic enzymes which degrade fungal cell wall were targeted. The antifungal properties of Acinetobactor calcoaceticus (A. calcoaceticus), Chryseobacterium indologenes (C. indologenes), and Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) were tested against G. boninense. The three strains showed the ability to inhibit the growth of G. boninense in dual culture test, culture filtrate test, double plate assay, and soft agar encapsulation. In dual culture test, all three test strains showed high Percentage Inhibition of Diameter Growth (PIDG) value with P. putida having the highest PIDG value of approximately 90%. As for culture filtrate test, C. indologenes demonstrated the highest PIDG value, approximately 85%. Double plate assay and soft agar encapsulation depicted the similar result for all three test strains which the PIDG value for both tests were 90%. The isolated strains exhibited promising results in anti-Ganoderma testing.

Abstract COVID-19 pandemic has affected human life worldwide since the first discovery of human SARS-CoV-2 infection. Due to scarce understandings of this novel coronavirus, therapeutic interventions regardless of modern or traditional medicines are implemented according to previous knowledge on other virus outbreaks. Besides antiviral drugs, traditional Chinese medicine has concomitantly shown to alleviate clinical symptoms associated with this disease. Recently, emerging studies also indicate that integrating modern medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) could bring more significant benefits to COVID-19 patients. This minireview provides a summary on the earliest therapeutic approaches recommended by World Health Organization and approved by China FDA for COVID-19 treatment since the outbreak, which are based on the outcomes obtained from preclinical or clinical trials performed until December 2020. The underlying molecular actions of these medicines on COVID-19 that have progressively revealed are also deliberated here. However, the mechanistic actions of these medicines still required intensive research and clinical investigations as some mechanisms are in silico predicted. Due to the treatment urgency, the main limitation of these studies is small group of patients in the trials. Nevertheless, they serve as an important stepping stone for further therapeutic intervention.