Key Laboratory of Biology and Sustainable Management of Plant Diseases and Pests of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, School of Plant Protection, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, China.
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management on Crops, Hefei, China.
J Econ Entomol. 2022 Apr 13;115(2):462-473. doi: 10.1093/jee/toab270.
Eco-friendly entomopathogenic fungi are widely used to control agricultural insect pests. Purpureocillium lilacinum (Thom.) Luangsa-ard et al. (Hypocreales: Ophiocordycipitaceae) is a nematophagous fungus used for the bio-control of destructive root-knot nematodes. However, its insecticidal activities against agricultural insect pests haven't been widely studied. In this study, P. lilacinum PL-1 was isolated from soil (Hefei, China) and identified by molecular and morphological analyses. The growth rate, spore production, proteinase, and chitinase activities of the isolate were analyzed. Virulence tests against green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) were performed. The median lethal concentration (LC50) and median lethal time (LT50) against aphids (via immersion) and LT50 against FAW (via injection) were determined. FAW eggs immersed in aqueous conidia suspension were infected after 60 h. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the infection of FAW larvae by P. lilacinum were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. The significantly upregulated DEGs include FAW immune genes (antimicrobial peptides, C-type lectins, lysozymes, prophenoloxidase, and peptidoglycan recognition proteins) and fungal pathogenic genes (ligase, chitinase, and hydrophobin). Our data demonstrate that P. lilacinum can be used as an entomopathogenic fungus against agricultural insect pests.
环保型昆虫病原真菌被广泛用于防治农业害虫。淡紫拟青霉（Thom.）Luangsa-ard 等（Hypocreales：Ophiocordycipitaceae）是一种寄生线虫真菌，用于防治破坏性根结线虫。然而，其对农业害虫的杀虫活性尚未得到广泛研究。在本研究中，从土壤（中国合肥）中分离出淡紫拟青霉 PL-1，并通过分子和形态分析进行鉴定。分析了该分离株的生长速度、产孢量、蛋白酶和几丁质酶活性。对桃蚜、烟粉虱（Sulzer）（半翅目：蚜科）和草地贪夜蛾、粘虫（Smith）（鳞翅目：夜蛾科）进行了毒力测试。通过浸渍法测定了对蚜虫的半数致死浓度（LC50）和半数致死时间（LT50）以及对粘虫的半数致死时间（LT50）（通过注射）。FAW 卵在 60 h 后浸入水性分生孢子悬浮液中被感染。通过定量反转录 PCR 分析了淡紫拟青霉感染粘虫幼虫时差异表达的基因（DEGs）。上调的显著 DEGs 包括粘虫免疫基因（抗菌肽、C 型凝集素、溶菌酶、酚氧化酶和肽聚糖识别蛋白）和真菌致病基因（连接酶、几丁质酶和疏水性蛋白）。我们的数据表明，淡紫拟青霉可作为防治农业害虫的昆虫病原真菌。
