Dataset Information

Increased fecundity of Aphis fabae on Vicia faba plants following seed or leaf inoculation with the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

ABSTRACT: Since the discovery that entomopathogenic fungi can live inside plants as endophytes, researchers have been trying to understand how this affects mainly plants and herbivores. We studied how inoculation of Vicia faba L. (Fabales: Fabaceae) plants with Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo-Crivelli) Vuillemin (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) (strain GHA) either via the seeds or leaves influenced the nymph production of two successive generations of Aphis fabae Scopoli (Hemiptera: Aphididae). While we did not find any difference in nymph production for the first generation of aphids, second-generation aphids on both seed- and spray inoculated plants produced significantly higher numbers of nymphs than aphids on uninoculated plants. This emphasizes the importance of two (or multi-) generational experimentation. Beauveria bassiana was recovered from 26.0, 68.8 and 6.3% of respectively seed-, spray inoculated and control plants, thus, demonstrating its ability to live as an endophyte in V. faba. The confirmation that plants inoculated with entomopathogenic fungi can have a positive effect on pest insects makes careful consideration of these multi-trophic interactions imperative.

SUBMITTER: Jensen RE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6779261 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Increased fecundity of Aphis fabae on Vicia faba plants following seed or leaf inoculation with the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

Jensen Rasmus Emil RE Enkegaard Annie A Steenberg Tove T

PloS one 20191007 10

Since the discovery that entomopathogenic fungi can live inside plants as endophytes, researchers have been trying to understand how this affects mainly plants and herbivores. We studied how inoculation of Vicia faba L. (Fabales: Fabaceae) plants with Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo-Crivelli) Vuillemin (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) (strain GHA) either via the seeds or leaves influenced the nymph production of two successive generations of Aphis fabae Scopoli (Hemiptera: Aphididae). While we did not find ...[more]

PMID: 31589639

Similar Datasets

Project description:Mosquito immunity studies have focused mainly on characterizing immune effector mechanisms elicited against parasites, bacteria and more recently, viruses. However, those elicited against entomopathogenic fungi remain poorly understood, despite the ubiquitous nature of these microorganisms and their unique invasion route that bypasses the midgut epithelium, an important immune tissue and physical barrier. Here, we used the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae as a model to investigate the role of melanization, a potent immune effector mechanism of arthropods, in mosquito defense against the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, using in vivo functional genetic analysis and confocal microscopy. The temporal monitoring of fungal growth in mosquitoes injected with B. bassiana conidia showed that melanin eventually formed on all stages, including conidia, germ tubes and hyphae, except the single cell hyphal bodies. Nevertheless, melanin rarely aborted the growth of any of these stages and the mycelium continued growing despite being melanized. Silencing TEP1 and CLIPA8, key positive regulators of Plasmodium and bacterial melanization in A. gambiae, abolished completely melanin formation on hyphae but not on germinating conidia or germ tubes. The detection of a layer of hemocytes surrounding germinating conidia but not hyphae suggested that melanization of early fungal stages is cell-mediated while that of late stages is a humoral response dependent on TEP1 and CLIPA8. Microscopic analysis revealed specific association of TEP1 with surfaces of hyphae and the requirement of both, TEP1 and CLIPA8, for recruiting phenoloxidase to these surfaces. Finally, fungal proliferation was more rapid in TEP1 and CLIPA8 knockdown mosquitoes which exhibited increased sensitivity to natural B. bassiana infections than controls. In sum, the mosquito melanization response retards significantly B. bassiana growth and dissemination, a finding that may be exploited to design transgenic fungi with more potent bio-control activities against mosquitoes.

Project description:Entomopathogenic fungi from the genus Beauveria (Vuillemin) play an important role in controlling insect populations and have been increasingly utilized for the biological control of insect pests. Various studies have reported that Beauveria bassiana (Bals.), Vuill. also has the ability to colonize a broad range of plant hosts as endophytes without causing disease but while still maintaining the capacity to infect insects. Beauveria is often applied as an inundative spore application, but little research has considered how plant colonization may alter the ability to persist in the environment. The aim of this study was to investigate potential interactions between B. bassiana and Zea mays L. (maize) in the rhizosphere following inoculation, in order to understand the factors that may affect environmental persistence of the fungi. The hypothesis was that different isolates of B. bassiana have the ability to colonize maize roots and/or rhizosphere soil, resulting in effects to the plant microbiome. To test this hypothesis, a two-step nested PCR protocol was developed to find and amplify Beauveria in planta or in soil; based on the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (ef1α) gene. The nested protocol was also designed to enable Beauveria species differentiation by sequence analysis. The impact of three selected B. bassiana isolates applied topically to roots on the rhizosphere soil community structure and function were consequently assessed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and MicroRespTM techniques. The microbial community structure and function were not significantly affected by the presence of the isolates, however, retention of the inocula in the rhizosphere at 30 days after inoculation was enhanced when plants were subjected to intensive wounding of foliage to crudely simulate herbivory. The plant defense response likely changed under wound stress resulting in the apparent recruitment of Beauveria in the rhizosphere, which may be an indirect defensive strategy against herbivory and/or the result of induced systemic susceptibility in maize enabling plant colonization.

Dataset Information

Increased fecundity of Aphis fabae on Vicia faba plants following seed or leaf inoculation with the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

Publications

Increased fecundity of Aphis fabae on Vicia faba plants following seed or leaf inoculation with the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets