Identification and Characterization of Entomopathogenic Fungi Isolated from Bemisia tabaci in Korea

Abstract

Entomopathogenic fungi were isolated from Bemisia tabaci in an Oriental melon field, and their growth characteristics, factors related to a natural outbreak, and infectivity against Bemisia tabaci, Tetranychus urticae, and Frankliniella intonsa were investigated. The isolates had erect conidiophores bearing whorls of 4-6 phialides with a swollen base where cylindrical conidia of 3.0-3.4 ㎛ were attached. The isolates were identified as Isaria fumosorosea on the basis of morphological characteristics and an ITS sequence with 99% similarity. I. fumosorosea IFs-08 grew well on Sabouraud dextrose agar+yeast extract medium(3.2 mm/day/24℃); it grew better at 35℃ than at 15℃. The isolates of I. fumosorosea-IFs were highly infective and killed 93.9-96.7% B. tabaci, 84.9-92.0% T. urticae, and 81.5-84.4% F. intonsa in bioassay, whereas three isolates (Isaria tenuipes, Isaria farinosa, and Isaria fumosorosea) from KACC showed a low infectivity of 10-20%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of I. fumosorosea isolated from B. tabaci in Korea.