Entomopathogenic ascomycete fungi are ubiquitous in soil and on phylloplanes, and are important natural enemies of many soil-borne arthropods including larval western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, which is a major pest of corn. We measured the prevalence of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae sensu lato in ten cornfields in Iowa, USA by baiting with larval insects. B....

The variability in esterases of the entomogenous fungus Metarhizium anisopliae was determined electrophoretically on 8.5% polyacrylamide gel. Ten isolates from diverse taxonomic groups of insects were analyzed. The electrophoretic analysis showed differences and similarities between these isolates and it was possible to distinguish six different patterns. The results obtained show a great polym...

Cecropins are the most potent induced peptides to resist invading microorganisms. In the present study, two full length cDNA encoding cecropin2 (Px-cec2) and cecropin3 (Px-cec3) were obtained from P. xylostella by integrated analysis of genome and transcriptome data. qRT-PCR analysis revealed the high levels of transcripts of Px-cecs (Px-cec1, Px-cec2 and Px-cec3) in epidermis, fat body and hem...

The susceptibility of Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) to selected strains of the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin was evaluated through bioassays with direct immersion or foliar exposureunder laboratoryconditions.Results showed thatA.planipennisadultswere susceptible toB. bassiana andM. anisop...

The focus of this study was on quantifying fitness attributes, such as spore density and viability, and determining the virulence level against aphid (Aphis gossypii) nymphs of isolates from the fungal species Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae. The fungal isolates were obtained from several insects, including Plutella xylostella, Hypothenemus hampei, Bronstispa longissima, A. gossyp...

Mortality of rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.) caused by Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin alone and in combination with a neonicotinoid insecticide, acetamiprid was evaluated in laboratory bioassays. Spray application of M. anisopliae alone at a spore concentration of 6 x 10 conidia/ml required 6 days to cause 10 percent mortality whereas 4 x 10 conidia/ml required 8 days to caus...

Ten strains of the entomopathogenic fungi Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana were evaluated to find the most effective strain for optimization studies. The first criterion tested for strain selection was the mortality (> 50%) of Spodoptera litura larvae after inoculation of the fungus for 4 days. Results on several bioassays revealed that B. bassiana BNBCRC showed the most virulence ...

This study determined the pathogenicity of Metarhizium anisopliae strain SD-3 against invasive red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier (coleoptera:curculionidae) larvae in Hainan Province, China. Inoculation of 1 × 108 conidia/mL caused 100 % mortality of R. ferrugineus, indicating that the conidia of strain SD-3 were highly virulent. The process of invasion mechanism was showe...

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 ...

Microsclerotia (MS), overwintering structures produced by many plant pathogenic fungi, have not been described for Metarhizium anisopliae. Three strains of M. anisopliae--F52, TM109, and MA1200--formed MS in shake flask cultures using media with varying carbon concentrations and carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratios. Under the conditions of this study, all strains produced MS, compact hyphal aggregat...