Endophytic Colonization of Pepper (Capsicum annum) Controls Aphids (Myzus persicae Sulzer)

Abstract

Aphids are among the most harmful crop pests, damaging plants by sucking sap or by transmitting pathogenic viruses. Plant infestation by aphids depends on their population growth. Entomopathogenic fungi are essential participants of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, regulating arthropod communities. Many fungal species with a symbiotic–endophytic relation with plants are pathogenic, producing insecticides or insect repellents. The present study investigated the effects of the fungal entomopathogens Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Isaria fumosorosea, following their endophytic colonization of the sweet pepper Capsicum annum, on the development of the green peach aphid Myzus persicae. After 21 days, B. bassiana produced 100% aphid mortality, M. anisopliae 90% and I. fumosorosea 83.3%. There were also significant differences in terms of the effect on aphid population in planta and on the survival time of young adults in planta. External mycelium appeared within 96 h after placing aphid cadavers on damp filter paper. PCR confirmed that the mycelium was of B. bassiana, M. anisopliae and I. fumosorosea. DNA sequences collected from this work were matched with existing sequences data in GenBank, using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool. Our results showed that none of the three fungal isolates had an effect in promoting or suppressing the growth of C. annum.

Endophytic Entomopathogenic Fungi: A Valuable Biological Control Tool against Plant Pests

“…However, not all fungi are able to colonize plants-at least not for their whole life cycle-because they cannot adapt to the nutrient content inside the plant [72]. Nevertheless, a transient fungal/plant association can exist for a few days following a spray application because of the abundance of propagule on the leaves [44,73].…”

“…white jute Apion corchori Reduced infestation [87] Soybean Aphis glycines Insignificant effect on pest population [88] Helicoverpa gelotopoeon Decreased larval food consumption [59] grapevine Planococcus ficus Reduced infestation [90] Empoasca vitis Reduced infestation [90] pepper Myzus persicae Increased pest mortality [44] Reduced development and fecundity [57] strawberry Myzus persicae Reduced feeding [60] cauliflower Bemisia tabaci Reduced pest survival [93] pecan [45,73] pepper Myzus persicae Increased pest mortality [44] lemon…”

“…EPF endophytes have been identified in hundreds of plants, including several important agricultural crops such as wheat, bananas, soybeans and tomatoes [26][27][28][29][30][31] as plant growth promoters [18,28,[32][33][34][35][36] and beneficial rhizosphere colonizers [37][38][39][40]. However, the multifaceted roles played by fungal entomopathogens could also be used indirectly and cost-effectively in sustainable agriculture, for instance, as biofertilizers [18,29,33,36], vertically-transmitted fungal endophytes [41,42] and microbial control agents against both plant diseases and arthropod pests [11,28,[43][44][45].…”

Endophytic Colonization of Solanum Tuberosum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae) Plants can Affect the Infestation of Serious Pests

“…Sterile sprayers were used for each entomopathogenic microorganism. After spraying with the fungal suspensions, the plants were covered for 24 hours with large diameter black bags to maintain high moisture on the surface of the plant [19] [20] . Τhe experiments were performed during a period of approximately three months and the duration was 21 days each.…”

Diversity of Akanthomyces on moths (Lepidoptera) in Thailand

“…Many of the species in this family have been originally isolated from dead insects and spiders that are buried in the soil, leaf litter, or attached to the undersides or upper sides of a leaf. Some species, especially in Beauveria, could be found in the soil (Rehner and Buckley 2005) or as endophytes (Mantzoukas and Lagogiannis 2019;Afandhi et al 2019). Cordycipitaceae is validated based on the type of Cordyceps, Cordyceps militaris, and it has initially included pyrenomycetes that possess pallid to brightly colored, fleshy stromata (Kepler et al 2017).…”