Sub-Lethal Effects of Partially Purified Protein Extracted from Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) and Its Presumptive Role in Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) Defense against Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.)

Abstract

Plants rely on various physiological and molecular defense mechanisms against biotic stresses such as herbivore insects. Many entomopathogenic fungi synthesize protein molecules that can trigger these plant defenses. This laboratory study characterized the bioactivity of a partially purified protein derived from Beauveria bassiana (ARSEF 2860) against whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), which is an economically important pest of agricultural and horticultural crops worldwide. Different concentrations (i.e., 0.021, 0.042 and 0.063 μM) of fungal protein were bioassayed to determine their sub-lethal effect on the survival percentage and fecundity rate of B. tabaci on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) plants. In addition, the putative role of this partially purified B. bassiana protein in the defense mechanisms of plant was assessed through the expression analyses of important genes related to salicylic acid (SA)—and jasmonic acid (JA)—associated pathways using RT-qPCR. Results revealed a significant suppression of the survival percentage and fecundity rate of B. tabaci by the fungal protein. Lowest survival (41%) was recorded for the highest concentration of protein (0.063 μM), whereas mean survival for the other two protein concentrations (0.042 and 0.021 μM) were 62 and 71%, respectively. Likewise, the highest and lowest mean fecundity rates were observed for the control and the highest protein concentration (i.e., 3.3 and 1.8 eggs day−1 female−1, respectively). Furthermore, the exogenous application of B. bassiana-derived protein on tomato plants strongly up-regulated the SA-related genes (PAL, PR1, BGL2 and EDS1) and slightly up-regulated the JA-related genes (AOC, AOS, OPR3 and LOX) as compared to the control plants. These findings demonstrate the putative role of this partially purified B. bassiana protein fraction in inducing systemic resistance in the tomato plants against B. tabaci, suggesting its further purification and characterization to be used as novel biological pest control tool against B. tabaci and other sap-sucking insect pests.

Sub-Lethal Effects of Lecanicillium lecanii (Zimmermann)-Derived Partially Purified Protein and Its Potential Implication in Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Defense against Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera)

“…Compared to buffertreated control plants, cotton plants treated exogenously by the foliar application of L. lecanii protein exhibited considerable reduction of fecundity rate of B. tabaci. Our results substantiate the findings of some previous studies [30][31][32][33][34][35] who demonstrated the sub-lethal activities of different fungal proteins isolated and partially purified from B. bassiana and L. lecanii against M. persicae and B. tabaci on Solanum lycopersicum plants. Gurulingappa et al [36] also reported a significant decrease in the rate of fecundity of A. gossypii induced by the fungal filtrates containing secondary metabolites and conidial suspensions of endophytic strains of B. bassiana and L. lecanii applied exogenously on cotton plant leaves.…”

Pathogenicity of mycoproteins of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae to Bactrocera zonata

“…The gel electrophoresis analysis concluded that the liquid culture inoculated with potential stains after ltration and precipitating with 95% (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 contains proteins. The proteins were identi ed as 11 kDa from the isolate of M. anisopliae previously 15kDa was identi ed by (Ortiz-Urquiza et al, 2009) and 25 kDa from the isolate of B. bassiana previously 35.5 kDa was identi ed by (Khan et al, 2016) and 19 kDa by (Keerio et al, 2020. The current study reported the potential effects on life stages of B. zonata when crude proteins were fed to the larva per gram diet. Our results conclude in signi cant larval mortality which was found very high as an increase in protein concentration was fed to the larvae.…”

Differential effects of the recombinant type 1 ribosome-inactivating protein, OsRIP1, on growth of PSB-D and BY-2 cells

“…In the control treatment, the leaves were infiltrated with 30 μM bovine serum albumin (BSA) or potassium phosphate buffer. The necrotic lesions were examined at 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 96 h post infiltration ( Keerio et al., 2020 ), respectively.…”

“…In brief, 7-week-old tobacco leaves were infiltrated with different concentrations of OsRIP1, or with 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer as a control for 24 h. Detached tobacco leaves were incubated with 3,3’-diaminobenzidine (DAB)-HCl (1 mg/ml, pH 3.8) solution at 28°C overnight. Subsequently, the chlorophyll was removed from the leaves by soaking in boiling ethanol (95%) for 20 min, and H 2 O 2 was visualized as a reddish-brown coloration ( Keerio et al., 2020 ).…”