Associated bacteria of a pine sawyer beetle confer resistance to entomopathogenic fungi via fungal growth inhibition.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The entomopathogenic Beauveria bassiana is a popular fungus used to control the Japanese pine sawyer, Monochamus alternatus Hope, the key vector of pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) that is the causal agent of pine wilt disease, resulting in devastating losses of pines in China and Portugal. However, recent studies have demonstrated that some insect-associated bacteria might decrease fungal toxicity and further undermine its biological control efficacy against M. alternatus. Thus, it is of great significance to uncover whether and how associated bacteria of M. alternatus become involved in the infection process of B. bassiana.

Results

Here, we show that axenic M. alternatus larvae died significantly faster than non-axenic larvae infected by four incr

SUBMITTER: Deng J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9463743 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature