The biochemical effects of two entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, were studied in the 3 rd instar larvae of Culex pipiens in the laboratory. Results revealed significant reduction in the total proteins of the treated larvae compared to the control larvae. The biochemical studies using (SDS-PAGE) revealed that there was a reduction in the number of protein bands due to the treatment with either of the two fungi. The obtained results indicated that the application of entomofungi as larvicidal agents against mosquito larvae caused significant changes in the total protein profile of Cx. pipiens larvae suggesting that toxins secreted by these pathogens caused damage to the larval proteins which finally leads to larval death. The conclusion is that the fungal pathogens are important as natural biological control agents of many insect and other arthropods and frequently cause epizootics that significantly reduce host population. This study recommends the use of B. bassiana and M. anisopliae as biological control agents to the control of Cx. pipiens larvae in order to suppress this medical vector for public health.
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