Nematicidal activity of (Z)-ligustilide isolated from Angelica tenuissima Nakai root extract against the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

Abstract

© 2022In this study, we investigated the nematicidal activities of the ethanol extracts of 49 medicinal plants against the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, and isolated a main nematicidal constituent, (Z)-ligustilide, from Angelica tenuissima Nakai root extract. Among the 49 plant extracts, only the A. tenuissima root extract showed the strong nematicidal activity against the pine wood nematode, with a 92.3% mortality rate at a concentration of 2 mg/mL. Based on bioassay-guided isolation and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, (Z)-ligustilide was identified as the active component of A. tenuissima root extract at 73.6% of the total content ratio. The LC50 value of (Z)-ligustilide against the pine wood nematode was 0.24 mg/mL. Our results indicated that (Z)-ligustilide as well as A. tenuissima root extract can be potential candidates for novel trunk injection agents against the pine wood nematode.