Abstract
Insect pathogenic fungi like Beauveria bassiana have been developed as environmentally friendly biocontrol agents against arthropod pests. However, restrictive environmental factors, including solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation frequently lead to inconsistent field performance. To improve resistance to UV damage, we used Agrobacterium-mediated transformation to engineer B. bassiana with an exogenous tyrosinase gene. The results showed that the mitotically stable transformants produced larger amounts of yellowish pigments than the wild-type strain, and these imparted significantly increased UV-resistance. The virulence of the transgenic isolate was also significantly increased against the silkworm Bombyx mori and the mealworm Tenebrio molitor. This study demonstrated that genetic engineering of B. bassiana with a tyrosinase gene is an effective way to improve fungal tolerance against UV damage.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 105-109 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Invertebrate Pathology |
| Volume | 109 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2012 |
Funding
The study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant Nos. 2009CB118904 and 2009AA10Z112) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-EW-N-06 and KSCX2-EW-G-16). The authors are grateful for Prof. Ming-Guang Feng for provision of equipment support.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Chinese Academy of Sciences | KSCX2-EW-N-06, KSCX2-EW-G-16 |
| Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China | 2009CB118904, 2009AA10Z112 |
Keywords
- Beauveria bassiana
- Genetic engineering
- Melanin
- Tyrosinase
- UV-resistance
- Virulence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics