Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and Paracoccidioides lutzii are dimorphic fungi and are the etiological agents of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM). Adhesion is one of the most important steps in infections with Paracoccidioides and is responsible for the differences in the virulence of isolates of these fungi. Because of the importance of adhesion to the establishment of an infection, this study focu...

Fitness costs can delay pest resistance to crops that produce insecticidal toxins derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), and past research has found that entomopathogens impose fitness costs of Bt resistance. In addition, entomopathogens can be used for integrated pest management by providing biological control of pests. The western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera...

Investigations of the diversity of bacterial communities associated with fieldcollected specimens of two insect biological control agents of spotted knapweed, Agapeta zoegana and Cyphocleonus achates, were made using molecular methods. The objective was to assess the bacterial communities of each insect to evaluate the potential compatibility of plant pathogenic fungi as a supplement to insect ...

Abstract Background The European tent caterpillar Malacosoma neustria Linnaeus, 1758 (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae), a worldwide pest, feeds on wide variety of woody and shrub-like plants in its larval stage causes extensive economic losses. In the fight against this species, environmentally friendly biological control methods should be preferred instead chemical control. aim study was to evaluat...

White clover (Trifolium repens) is the key legume component of New Zealand pastoral agriculture due to the high quality feed and nitrogen inputs it provides. Invertebrate pests constrain white clover growth and this study investigated rhizosphere-associated fungal controls for two of these pests and attempts to disentangle the underpinning mechanisms. The degree of suppressiveness of 10 soils, ...

1. Ecological interactions are complex networks, but have typically been studied in a pairwise fashion. Examining how third-party species can modify the outcome of pairwise interactions may allow us to better predict their outcomes in realistic systems. For instance, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can affect plant interactions with other organisms, including belowground herbivores, but the ...

Genetically engineered maize producing the insecticidal protein Cry3Bb1 from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt maize) is protected against corn rootworms (Diabrotica spp.), which are serious maize pests in North America and Europe. The aim of the present study was to investigate the interaction of Bt maize (event MON88017) and the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae for controlling the west...

Entomopathogenic fungi produce secondary metabolites which may bioactively help fungus in its virulence toward insect hosts. Beauveria bassiana produces several toxic low molecular compounds in vitro as well as in vivo, the most important of them is Beauvericin. The BEH isolate of the fungus was selected for Beauvericin assay. Beauvericin was obtained from surface and submerged cultures of the ...

The control of gastrointestinal nematodes relies at present mostly on antihelmintic treatments using synthetic molecules. This approach, however, has led to the appearance of resistance to some types of antihelmintics which, together with the need to cut down on the use of chemicals, has fostered the development of other control methods, such as biological control, which is the use of living or...

Paenibacillus larvae is the etiological agent of American foulbrood (AFB) in honeybees. Recently, different genotypes of P. larvae (ERIC I to ERIC IV) were defined, and it was shown that these genotypes differ inter alia in their virulence on the larval level. On the colony level, bees mitigate AFB through the hygienic behavior of nurse bees. Therefore, we investigated how the hygienic behavior...