A New Strain of Metarhizium robertsii Isolated from Loess Plateau and Its Virulence and Pathological Characteristics against Monochamus alternatus

Abstract

Monochamus alternatus is a serious trunk-boring pest. The isolation and utilization of entomopathogenic fungi to manage M. alternatus is important. Here, a new strain GQH6 of Metarhizium robertsii, isolated from the Loess Plateau, was identified morphologically and molecularly. The virulence of the strain GQH6 against the third-instar larvae of M. alternatus was studied. Then, the pathological process, including symptom observation and histopathological observation, was also researched. The corrected mortality was 100% at 109 and 108 conidia/mL, and 88.89 ± 5.88% at 107 conidia/mL. The LC50 was 1.93 × 106 conidia/mL and the LC90 was 1.35 × 107 conidia/mL. And the LT50 of the strain GQH6 was 3.96 days at 109 conidia/mL, and 4.99 days at 108 conidia/mL. These virulence indices showed high virulence against M. alternatus larvae. In addition, the symptoms of the infected M. alternatus larvae were obvious. After one day, dark spots appeared and increased in number. By four days, white mycelia appeared. Finally, the larvae body became green. Similarly, the histopathological changes after infection were obvious, mainly manifested in muscle tissue rupture, adipose tissue fracture and midgut disintegration. These results demonstrated that the M. robertsii strain GQH6 isolated from the Loess Plateau was highly virulent against M. alternatus larvae of the third instar.

Virulence and Pathological Characteristics of a New Metarhizium anisopliae Strain against Asian Long-Horn Beetle Anoplophora glabripennis Larvae

“…They were mainly embodied in big tissues such as the muscle tissue, adipose tissue, and midgut. The pathological characteristics were roughly the same as the description of Monochamus alternatus larvae infected by the M. robertsii strain GQH6 [15]. Overall, tissue destruction was mainly attributed to the constant proliferation of hyphae and conidia.…”

“…The entomopathogenic fungi strains finally kill the host through toxins [12,13] and mycelium extrusion [14]. After infection by entomopathogenic fungi, a series of pathological characteristics will occur within the host body [15]. This is not only due to the pathological characteristics of entomopathogenic fungi, but also proves the virulence of entomopathogenic fungi.…”

“…In particular, for the management of species such as A. glabripennis, Monochamus alternatus Hope, Aedes aegypti Linnaeus, Nilaparvata lugens Stal, and Melanoplus bivittatus Say, Metarhizium spp. is widely studied and used [15,[18][19][20][21]. The IPM requires continuous fungal strains isolation from nature [22].…”