Fatal attraction: Engineering and selecting beauveria bassiana fungal strains for targeted biocontrol of Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae)**

山地松甲虫（Dendroctonus ponderosae）已经杀死了不列颠哥伦比亚省超过1600万公顷的成熟小松树（Pinus contorta）的50%以上。它现在已经越过落基山脉进入阿尔伯塔，在那里它侵扰lodgepole，杰克（P. banksiana）和lodgepole ×杰克松杂交林。它对短叶松的攻击特别令人关注，因为这种常见的物种跨越北方森林延伸到加拿大东海岸。甲虫优先攻击成熟的树木，它们在树皮下觅食和繁殖。甲虫引入蓝变真菌（Grosmannia clavigera，Leptographium longiclavatum），阻止水和营养物质的运输，限制树木的防御反应，并为甲虫后代提供营养。控制工作仅限于破坏受感染的树木。自2006年以来，阿尔伯塔政府已经花费了近5亿美元来检测和根除甲虫。白僵菌是一种真菌，攻击甲虫和杀死他们。虽然该物种可以定殖各种各样的节肢动物，但有些菌株的活动范围很窄。这种真菌已经被用作对付其他昆虫的生物杀虫剂。虽然B. bassiana对D.在实验室中，田间试验往往无法证明真菌病的传播或甲虫种群的控制。然而，B。由于其在森林凋落物中的持久性，巴西松在欧洲云杉树皮甲虫（Ips typographus）的田间试验中获得成功。加拿大的森林影响气候，促进二氧化碳吸收，提供野生动物栖息地，清洁水和其他生态系统服务。2013年，它们占加拿大国内生产总值的198亿美元。本申请要求提供资金以检查B的真菌菌株的选择、产生和测试。这些植物对环境具有鲁棒性，特别是对山松甲虫致命，并且易于部署用于直接控制。该项目将对真菌进行工程改造：（i）增强紫外线和干旱耐受性，以改善田间应用;（ii）生产松甲虫性信息素，以吸引昆虫到受感染的个体。实验室功效测试之后将进行对照田间试验，以评估真菌在自然条件下对昆虫的生物防治，并检查对理想（例如授粉）昆虫的非特异性致死率。

The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) has killed >50% of mature lodgepole pine trees (Pinus contorta) across >16 million ha of British Columbia. It has now crossed the Rocky Mountains into Alberta, where it infests lodgepole, jack (P. banksiana) & lodgepole × jack pine hybrid forests. Its attack on jack pine is of special concern as this common species extends across the boreal forest to Canada's East Coast. Beetles preferentially attack mature trees where they feed & reproduce below the bark. Beetles introduce blue stain fungi (Grosmannia clavigera, Leptographium longiclavatum) that block water & nutrient transport, limit trees defensive responses, & provide nutrients to beetle offspring. Control efforts are limited to destruction of infested trees. Since 2006, the Alberta government has spent nearly $500 million to detect & eradicate the beetles. Beauveria bassiana is a fungus that attacks beetles & kills them. Although the species can colonize a wide variety of arthropods, some strains have narrow spectra of activity. This fungus is already in use as a biological insecticide against other insects. Although B. bassiana is lethal to D. ponderosae & other bark beetles in the lab, field tests often fail to demonstrate propagation of the mycosis or control of beetle populations. However, B. bassiana was successful in field tests with European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) due to its persistence in forest litter. Canada's forests influence climate, contribute to CO2 uptake, provide wildlife habitat, clean water & other ecosystem services. They accounted for $19.8 billion of Canada's GDP in 2013. This application requests funding to examine selection, generation & testing of fungal strains of B. bassiana that are environmentally robust, specifically lethal to the mountain pine beetle & readily deployed for direct control. The project will engineer into the fungus: (i) enhanced UV & drought tolerance to improve field applications; & (ii) pine beetle sex pheromone production to attract the insects to infected individuals. Lab tests of efficacy will be followed by controlled field trials to evaluate biocontrol of the insect by the fungus under natural conditions & examine nonspecific lethality to desirable (e.g. pollinating) insects.