Rapid identification of insect pathogenic fungi for commercial production

农作物保护者有限公司是一家综合害虫管理(IPM)公司，其目标之一是利用自然发生的微生物菌株来控制害虫。这些生物农药通过加强病虫害综合防治、抗性管理，提高鲜活农产品的产量、品质和适销性，使种植者受益。作物保护者有限公司正在与非常有前途的作物生产商合作，以满足加拿大和国际对用于病虫害控制的高质量微生物的需求。作物保护者有限公司的重点之一是使用感染昆虫的真菌种类，以控制安大略省、加拿大和国际上的作物害虫。作物保护者有限公司已经在安大略省分离出250多株真菌，并正在评估这些地方性菌株的生物防治工作。为了评估作物保护者在农业中使用真菌菌株的潜力，有必要首先能够确定他们分离到了哪些真菌物种。如果释放真菌用于昆虫控制，以便能够跟踪菌株的生存能力、持久性和有效性，这也将是重要的。我们在布罗克大学的实验室在鉴定真菌物种方面至少有25年的经验，特别是昆虫致病真菌。我们将使用至少两个使用聚合酶链式反应(PCR)的分子标记来鉴定真菌物种，并与以前鉴定的菌株进行比较。我们将在系统发育分析中对这些真菌菌株进行比较，以便将这些真菌放在分类的背景下。此外，我们将试验快速提取DNA的方案，以简化非真菌鉴定的整个过程。

One of the goals of Crop Defenders Ltd., an integrated pest management (IPM) company, is to utilize naturallyoccurring strains of microorganisms in order to control insect pests. These biopesticides benefit the growers byenhancing integrated pest management (IPM), resistance management, improving the yield, quality andmarketability of the fresh produce. Crop Defenders Ltd. is working with very promising crop producers thathave demand for high quality microbials for pest control in Canada and internationally.One of the foci of Crop Defenders Ltd. is to employ species of fungi that infect insects in order to control insectpests of crops in Ontario, Canada and internationally. Crop Defenders Ltd has isolated over 250 strains of fungiin Ontario and are assessing these endemic strains in a biological control effort.In order to assess the potential for the use of the strains of fungi that Crop Defenders has in agriculture it isnecessary first to be able to identify which fungal species they have isolated. This would also be important ifthe fungus is released for insect control in order to be able to track the viability, persistence and efficacy of thestrain.Our laboratory at Brock University has at least 25 years of experience in identifying fungal species,particularly, insect pathogenic fungi. We will use at least two molecular markers using polymerase chainreaction (PCR) to identify the fungal species in comparison to previously identified isolates. We will comparethese fungal isolates in a phylogenetic analysis in order to place the fungi in a taxonomic context. Furthermore,we will be experimenting with rapid DNA extraction protocols in order to streamline the entire process offungal identification.