Virulence traits within a community of the fungal entomopathogen Beauveria: Associations with abundance and distribution
Virulence traits within a community of the fungal entomopathogen Beauveria: Associations with abundance and distribution
复制标题
真菌昆虫病原白僵菌群落内的毒力特征：与丰度和分布的关系
DOI：
10.1016/j.funeco.2020.100992
复制
发表时间：
2020-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Meyling, Nicolai, V
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Maistrou, Sevasti;Natsopoulou, Myrsini E.;Meyling, Nicolai, V
Entomopathogenic fungi are widespread in terrestrial ecosystems and can be used as models for studying host-pathogen interactions. However, the associations between fungal virulence and ecosystem abundance, and the importance of virulence for ecological fitness are poorly understood. To study these associations, we investigated five selected strains from a natural community of the entomopathogenic genus Beauveria spp. representing different phylogenetic clades with distinct abundance and distribution patterns within an agricultural field and its neighboring hedgerow. We measured pathogen fitness traits related to virulence in a naive host, the beetle Tenebrio molitor. We found that the two strains belonging to the most abundant Beauveria bassiana clade, which was the only clade represented in the agricultural field, exhibited the highest relative virulence in terms of host mortality, transmission probability, in vitro growth rate and germination speed. In addition, gene expression of specific virulence factors was higher compared to the strain belonging to the second most abundant B. bassiana clade. The study highlights the relevance of fungal virulence traits and adaptations to explain abundance patterns within natural communities of entomopathogenic fungi. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd and British Mycological Society. All rights reserved.
