BACKGROUND When organisms are attacked by multiple natural enemies, the evolution of a resistance mechanism to one natural enemy will be influenced by the degree of cross-resistance to another natural enemy. Cross-resistance can be positive, when a resistance mechanism against one natural enemy also offers resistance to another; or negative, in the form of a trade-off, when an increase in resis...

To identify a suitable promoter for use in engineering fungal entomopathogens to improve heterologous gene expression and fungal biocontrol potential, a 1798 bp promoter (P hyd1) upstream of Beauveria bassiana class I hydrophobin gene (hyd1) was optimized by upstream truncation and site-directed mutation. A truncated 1290 bp fragment (P hyd1-t1) drove eGFP expression in B. bassiana much more ef...

Chinch bugs of the genus Blissus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) are serious pests of maize, wheat, sorghum and various grasses. This study is the first to screen isolates of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae against 4 instar and adult Blissus antillus aiming to develop a biological control program for this important pasture pest. Ten fungal isolates were initially screened and three isolate...

Fungi associated with the hemlock wooly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), were collected throughout the eastern USA and southern China. Twenty fungal genera were identified, as were 79 entomopathogenic isolates, including: Lecanicillium lecanii (Zimmermann) (Hypocreales: Insertae sedis), Isaria farinosa (Holm: Fries.) (Cordycipitaceae), Beauveria bassiana (Balasamo) (Hyphom...

The parasitoid Spalangia endius Walker is an efficient controller of Dipteran pupae, such as Musca domestica L. The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuil. is a regulator of insect populations, including these synanthropic pests. The aim of this work was to explore the possibilities of utilizing both agents in a combined form for the biocontrol of the domestic fly. Recently for...

Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana are ubiquitous insect pathogens and possible plant symbionts, as some strains are endophytic or colonize the rhizosphere. We evaluated 11 strains of M. anisopliae and B. bassiana, and two soil saprophytes (the non-rhizospheric Aspergillus niger and the rhizosphere-competent Trichoderma harzianum) for their ability to germinate in bean root exudates ...

The planthopper Peregrinus maidis (Ashmead) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) is an important vector of maize viruses in tropical and subtropical areas. Planthoppers are biologically controlled with several species of entomopathogenic fungi that have been isolated from these insect pests of rice in Asia. Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo-Crivelli) Vuillemin and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin (H...

In vivo cells (hyphal bodies) of the hyphomycetous insect pathogen Beauveria bassiana collected from host Spodoptera exigua larval hemolymph were osmotically sensitive and lacked a well-defined cell wall. In light and electron microscope studies, a galactose-specific lectin purified from S. exigua hemolymph, concanavalin A (specific for alpha-mannose), and a polyclonal antibody to B. bassiana c...