A revised structure of colossolactone G (1), seven new triterpene lactones, ganodermalactones A-G (2-8), and five known triterpene lactones, colossolactone I (9), schisanlactone B (10), colossolactone B (11), colossolactone E (12), and colossolactone IV (13), and ergosterol have been isolated from cultured biomass of the macrofungi Ganoderma sp. KM01. Their structures were identified by spectroscopic methods. Structures and relative configurations of 3, 7, and 8 were confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis. Compounds 7, 10, and 12 exhibited antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum in the range 6.0-10.0 μM (IC50).

Coleopteran diversity was compared between more and less disturbed lowland evergreen deciduous forests located in Phou Phanang National protected area, Lao PDR. Using window traps and pitfall traps and collecting beetles from March until December 2018, a total of 6243 specimens were obtained. The number of morphospecies found in the less disturbed forest was significantly higher as compared to the more disturbed forest. Slightly more morphospecies were found in the window traps compared to pitfall traps and a significantly higher number of morphospecies were found in the wet season (June and September collections), compared to the dry season (March and December collections). Similarly, more than twice as many specimens were found in the less disturbed forest, compared to the more disturbed forest and also again more were found in the wet season, in particular predators. The data presented here indicate that so far largely undisturbed forests in Lao PDR need to be better protected from human exploitation such as logging.

The interaction between leguminous plants and Bradyrhizobium is limited, known as host specificity. Therefore, the selection of an appropriate Bradyrhizobia for use as biofertilizer inoculum for legumes is necessary. The Arachis hypogea L. is the most popular legume produced in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR). Therefore, this research aimed to obtain the appropriate Bradyrhizobia that provides high efficiency in A. hypogea production in the Lao PDR. The 14 isolates were obtained from root nodules of A. hypogea L. trapped with Lao PDR soil samples. Three were the top isolates PMVTL-01, SMVTL-02, and BLXBL-03 showing high efficiency for peanut growth promotion. Strains PMVTL-01 and SMVTL-02 were closely related to the Bradyrhizobium geno sp. SA-3 Rp7b and B. zhanjiangense, respectively, whilst strain BLXBL-03 was closely related to Bradyrhizobium sp. CCBAU51745 and B. manausense BR3351. The competitiveness of these strains with Bradyrhizobium sp. SUTN9-2::GFP was analyzed, and only Bradyrhizobium sp. SMVTL-02 performed a number of occupied nodules higher than SUTN9-2::GFP. In addition, the competitiveness of the selected strain Bradyrhizobium sp. SMVTL-02 in a soil sample from the Lao PDR in the pot level was employed by tagging the SMVTL-02 with the DsRed gene. The results demonstrated that the DsRed-expressing tagged strain showed higher nodule occupancy than indigenous strains. Moreover, the results of the acetylene reduction assay (ARA), nodule number, nodule dry weight, and total plant dry weight from the pot experiment that inoculated with the SMVTL-02::DsRed were presented as having high potential to promote peanut growth as compared to non-inoculation. Thus, Bradyrhizobium sp. SMVTL-02 could be considered a potential biofertilizer inoculum for A. hypogea production in the Lao PDR.

In this study, we introduce an asexual morph of a novel species Neoroussoella peltophora (Roussoellaceae) on Peltophorum vogelianum (Fabaceae) collected from Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Morphologically the new species resembles Neoroussoella species. Phylogenetic analyses of concatenated LSU, SSU, ITS, tef1-α and rpb2 sequence data revealed that (MFLU 21–0113) is phylogenetically distinct (91% MLBS/1.00 BYPP). Neoroussoella peltophora differs from N. fulvicomae in having thinner peridium and differs from N. alishanense in having thicker peridium. Further, N. peltophora is distinct from N. alishanense in having shorter conidiogenous cells and differs from N. fulvicomae in having longer conidiogenous cells. The base pair comparison of ITS, tef1-α and rpb2 gene regions also support that our isolate is distinctive from the other species in Neoroussoella.

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