Genetic diversity of the fungal pathogen Metarhizium spp., causing epizootics in Chinese burrower bugs in the Jingting Mountains, eastern China

Abstract

Based on the internal transcribed spacer and inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR), the phylogenetic relationship and genetic diversity of Metarhizium spp., pathogens found in Chinese burrower bugs, Schiodtella formosana, were analyzed. The results showed that the causative agents of the epizootic green muscardine disease in populations of S. formosana were actually composed of M. anisopliae and its sister species, M. robertsii. The genetic structure of Metarhizium spp. populations were assessed using ten ISSR. A 3D principal component analysis of 51 isolates sampled on different occasions revealed that the Metarhizium spp. populations were temporally heterogeneous. They differentiated into two main clades including over 71 % of all strains causing epizootics, with a similarity of 83 %. The population differentiation was relatively low (G ( ST ), 0.2080), reflecting a large proportion of gene differentiation (79.2 %) within the populations. Further knowledge of the complex species and heterogeneous populations of Metarhizium spp. may be necessary for sustainable control methods of S. formosana.

Genetic Diversity Analysis Reveals that Geographical Environment Plays a More Important Role than Rice Cultivar in Villosiclava virens Population Selection

“…Molecular markers have been widely used for the identification, taxonomy, evolution, as well as genetic diversity of bacteria, protozoa, fungi, plants, and animals (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24), such as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) (25), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) (26), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) assays (27), simple sequence repeats (SSR) (28), inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) (29,30), and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) (31). Several reports on genetic diversity of V. virens have been published in recent years.…”

Genetic Diversity and Virulence Variation of Metarhizium rileyi from Infected Spodoptera frugiperda in Corn Fields

“…Metarhizium anisopliae and B. bassiana account for the vast majority [ 47 ]. M. rileyi is a dimorphic fungus with slow growth and development [ 48 ], and its advantages in soil environments or some insect hosts may not be obvious [ 49 ]. Notably, this study identified 31 strains of M. rileyi from different regions of Yunnan Province, China, and they were all derived from the same host, S. frugiperda .…”

Biological insect control using Metarhizium anisopliae: morphological, molecular, and ecological aspects

“…(M. anisopliae and its sister species, M. robertsii), pathogens found in Chinese burrower bugs populations (Schiodtella formosana), were assessed using ISSR. They differentiated into two main clades including over 71% of all strains causing epizootics, with a similarity of 83% (LUAN et al, 2013).…”