Putative Role of a Yet Uncharacterized Protein Elicitor PeBb1 Derived from ARSEF 2860 Strain against (Homoptera: Aphididae) in ssp. .

This study reports the characterization of protein elicitor PeBb1 derived from entomopathogenic fungus ARSEF-2860 strain and its putative role in induced systemic resistance in ssp. against green peach aphid . The sequence of purified elicitor protein was matched with the genomic sequence of a hypothetical protein BBA_10269 from ARSEF-2860 (GenBank Accession No. XP_008603588.1). The protein-encoding gene contained 534 bp cDNA encoding a polypeptide of 177 amino acids with a molecular mass of 19 kDa. The recombinant elicitor protein was expressed in using pET-28a (+) expression vector and induced necrosis in the leaves of tobacco. The effects of elicitor protein on aphid was determined by applying three different concentrations of PeBb1 (i.e., 26, 35, 53 μM) on plants at 4-leaf stage and the treated plants were exposed to newly emerged (0-6 h old) apterous adult aphids. Bioassay results showed significant ( < 0.05) sub-lethal effects of the exogenous application of PeBb1 elicitor on . Moreover, the RT-qPCR gene expression analyses showed a significant up-regulation of most of the key genes linked to ethylene (ET)- and jasmonic acid (JA)-associated plant defense pathways in elicitor-treated plants. These results not only recommend the putative utilization of PeBb1 elicitor protein in future biological pest control strategies against phloem-feeding insect pests such as , but also help in better comprehension of the mechanisms through which beneficial fungi trigger the induced plant resistance.