Abstract

Jaclyn Yuna Kuok , Bernard Wei Ibrahim , Awal Lee Chong , Ziana B. Ashaari , Hannah O. Krishnan , James Amber Peter , Yasmin S. E. , and Nicholas Tan

Aquilaria malaccensis is an endangered agarwood-producing plant found in most Asian countries and has a very long history of use in traditional medicine as incense, aromatic and therapeutic oil. Polyploidization is an established method to enhance the desired horticultural characteristics in many ornamental plants. In some medicinal plants, it proves to have positive effects on the production of secondary metabolites and/or bioactive compounds. Thus, the aims of this study are to induce polyploidization in A. malaccensis and investigate the phytochemical constituents using Headspace-Solid Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME), coupled with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) analyses. The present study showed that the highest percentage of polyploidization in A. malaccensis samples was at 120 h of exposure time using 1 mM colchicine and 0.1 mM trifluralin on shoot tip and nodal segment, respectively. Through HS-SPME/GCMS, the phytochemical constituents in polyploid doubled the amount than in diploid samples. The phytochemical constituents increased 4-folds in stem and twice in roots of polyploid samples as compared to diploid. The seedling however, had higher number of phytochemical constituents due to age differences against the in vitro samples. Enhancement of phytochemical production through polyploidization in A. malaccensis will provide new breeds for commercial plantation program and support the effort to reduce over-collection of the species in the wild.