''Beauveria bassiana'' is a

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

that grows naturally in soils throughout the world and acts as a

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

on various

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

species, causing white muscardine disease; it thus belongs to the group of entomopathogenic fungi. It is used as a biological

insecticide Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...

to control a number of pests, including

termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

thrips Thrips (Order (biology) , order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Entomologists have species description , described approximately 7,700 species. They fly on ...

whiteflies Whiteflies are Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. They comprise the family Aleyrodidae, the only family in the superfamily Aleyrodoidea. More than 1550 species have been described. Description and taxonomy The A ...

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...

s and various

beetles Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

. Its use in the control of

bed bug Bed bugs are parasitic insects from the genus ''Cimex'', which are micropredators that haematophagy, feed on blood, usually at night. Their bites can result in a number of health impacts, including skin rashes, psychological effects, and aller ...

s and

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

-transmitting

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

s is under investigation.Donald G. McNeil Jr.
Fungus Fatal to Mosquito May Aid Global War on Malaria
''The New York Times'', 10 June 2005

Taxonomy

The species is named after the Italian entomologist

Agostino Bassi Agostino Bassi, sometimes called de Lodi (25 September 1773 – 8 February 1856), was an Italian entomologist. He preceded Louis Pasteur in the discovery that microorganisms can be the cause of disease (the germ theory of disease). He discovere ...

, who discovered it in 1835 in silkworms (''Bombyx mori''). Bassi performed the first infection experiments, and determined the fungus to be the cause of the muscardine disease, which then led to carriers transmitting it by airborne means. Later the same year, the fungus was named ''Botrytis bassiana'' by Giuseppe Gabriel Balsamo-Crivelli. The species epithet honours Bassi, the discoverer: In 1911 Jean Beauverie did further study and the next year Jean Paul Vuillemin made it the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of his new genus, ''Beauveria,'' a name which honors Beauverie. The name ''B. bassiana'' has long been used to describe a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

of morphologically similar and closely related isolates. Rehner and Buckley have shown that ''B. bassiana'' consists of many distinct lineages that should be recognized as distinct phylogenetic species and the genus '' Beauveria'' was redescribed with a proposed type for ''B. bassiana'' in 2011. The species was formerly also known as ''Tritirachium shiotae,'' among other synonyms.

Relation to ''Cordyceps'' and other fungi

''Beauveria bassiana'' is the anamorph (asexually reproducing form) of '' Cordyceps bassiana''. The latter teleomorph (the sexually reproducing form) has been collected only in eastern Asia.

Description

''B. bassiana'' is a white

mould A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi ...

when grown on culture, producing white

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...

balls made up of many

conidia A conidium ( ; : conidia), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (: chlamydoconidia), is an asexual, non- motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also ...

that are single-celled,

haploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell (biology), cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for Autosome, autosomal and Pseudoautosomal region, pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the num ...

, and

hydrophobic In chemistry, hydrophobicity is the chemical property of a molecule (called a hydrophobe) that is seemingly repelled from a mass of water. In contrast, hydrophiles are attracted to water. Hydrophobic molecules tend to be nonpolar and, thu ...

. The short, ovoid conidiogenous cells that produce the conidia have a narrow apical extension called a

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the ''rachi ...

, which elongates into a long zig-zag extension.

Ecology

WhiteMuscardineDiseaseGoldenSilkOrbWeaver

The

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

disease caused by the fungus is a muscardine which has been called white muscardine disease. When the microscopic spores of the fungus come into contact with the body of an insect host, they germinate, penetrate the

cuticle A cuticle (), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection. Various types of "cuticle" are non- homologous, differing in their origin, structu ...

, and grow inside, killing the insect within a matter of days. Afterwards, a white mold emerges from the cadaver and produces new spores. A typical isolate of ''B. bassiana'' can attack a broad range of insects; various isolates differ in their host range. ''Beauveria bassiana'' parasitizing the

Colorado potato beetle The Colorado potato beetle (''Leptinotarsa decemlineata''; also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle, and the potato bug) is a beetle known for being a major pest of potato crops. It is about lo ...

has been reported to be, in turn, the host of a mycoparasitic fungus '' Syspastospora parasitica''. This organism also attacks related insect-pathogenic species of the

Clavicipitaceae The Clavicipitaceae are a family (biology), family of fungi within the order Hypocreales. A 2008 estimate placed 43 genus, genera in the family, but a study in 2020 has increased this number to 50. Phylogeny Molecular phylogeny, phylogenetic ana ...

. A fungus attributed to be ''B. bassiana'' was observed to cause infections in a captive American alligator and ''B. bassiana'' was implicated in causing a pulmonary disease in captive

tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

s. The

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s were in captivity and under temperature stress which may explain their susceptibility to the fungus. When a tortoise was kept at 22 °C and injected with 0.5 mL of 106 spores of ''B. bassiana'' into the lung, no mortality was observed, while a second contaminated tortoise died when kept only at 16 °C. A microevolutionary experiment in 2013 showed that the Greater wax moth ('' Galleria mellonella'') was able to adapt its defense mechanisms during 25 generations, while being under constant selective pressure from ''B. bassiana''. The moth developed resistance, but apparently, at a cost. Wagner and Lewis reported the ability of ''B. bassiana'' to grow as an

endophyte An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date; ...

in corn.

Toxicity

The fungus rarely infects humans or other animals, so it is generally considered safe as an insecticide. However, at least one case of human infection by ''B. bassiana'' has been reported in a person with a suppressed immune system. Additionally, the spores may exacerbate

breathing difficulties Shortness of breath (SOB), known as dyspnea (in AmE) or dyspnoea (in BrE), is an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that ...

Uses

''Beauveria bassiana'' can be used as a biological insecticide to control a number of pests such as

, and many other insects. Its use in the control of

-transmitting

s is under investigation. As an insecticide, the spores are sprayed on affected crops as an emulsified suspension or wettable powder or applied to

mosquito net A mosquito net is a type of meshed curtain or cloth that is circumferentially draped over a bed or a sleeping area to offer the sleeper barrier protection against bites and stings from mosquitos, flies, and other pest insects, and thus a ...

s as a mosquito control agent. As a species, ''B. bassiana'' parasitizes a very wide range of arthropod hosts. However, different strains vary in their host ranges, some having rather narrow ranges, like strain Bba 5653 that is very virulent to the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of the diamondback moth and kills only few other types of

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s. Some strains do have a wide host range and should, therefore, be considered nonselective biological insecticides. These should not be applied to flowers visited by pollinating insects. Known targets of the species include: *

Aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...

s *

Whiteflies Whiteflies are Hemipterans that typically feed on the undersides of plant leaves. They comprise the family Aleyrodidae, the only family in the superfamily Aleyrodoidea. More than 1550 species have been described. Description and taxonomy The A ...

Mealybugs Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Of the more than 2,000 described species, many are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and su ...

* Psyllids ** Chinch bug ** Lygus bugs *

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

s * Stink bugs ('' Halyomorpha halys'') *

Thrips Thrips (Order (biology) , order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Entomologists have species description , described approximately 7,700 species. They fly on ...

Termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

s *

Fire ant Fire ants are several species of ants in the genus ''Solenopsis'', which includes over 200 species. ''Solenopsis'' are stinging ants, and most of their common names reflect this, for example, ginger ants and tropical fire ants. Many of the nam ...

s *

Flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

* Stem borers ** Fungal gnats ** Shoreflies *

Beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s **

Bark beetle A bark beetle is the common name for the subfamily of beetles Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Although th ...

** Black vine weevil ** Boll weevil ** Cereal leaf beetle ** Coffee berry borer **

** Emerald ash borer (in conjunction with the

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

wasp '' Tetrastichus planipennisi'') **

Japanese beetle The Japanese beetle (''Popillia japonica'') is a species of Scarabaeidae, scarab beetle. Due to the presence of Predation, natural predators, the Japanese beetle is not considered a pest in its native Japan, but in North America and some region ...

** Mexican bean beetle ** Red palm weevil ** Strawberry root weevil *

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s **

Codling moth The codling moth (''Cydia pomonella'') is a member of the Lepidopteran family Tortricidae. They are major pests to agricultural crops, mainly fruits such as apples and pears, and a codling moth larva is often called an " apple worm". Along with ...

** Douglas fir tussock moth ** European corn borer ** Invasive silkworms ** Apple clearwing moth *

Mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...

s Preliminary research has shown the fungus is 100% effective in eliminating

s exposed to cotton fabric sprayed with fungus spores. It is also effective against bed bug colonies due to ''B. bassiana'' carried by infected bugs back to their harborages. The tested strain of ''B. bassiana'' caused rapid mortality (3–5 days) after short-term exposure. In a 2017 follow-up study,

pyrethroid A pyrethroid is an organic compound similar to the natural pyrethrins, which are produced by the flowers of pyrethrums (''Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium'' and ''Chrysanthemum coccineum, C. coccineum''). Pyrethroids are used as commercial and hou ...

-resistant bed bugs had >94% mortality after treatment with a commercial preparation of B. bassiana.

Containment leak

In March 2013, genetically modified ''B. bassiana'' was found in a number of research laboratories and greenhouses outside of a designated containment area at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand. The

Ministry for Primary Industries The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing, managing and regulating the farming, fishing, food, animal welfare, biosecurity, and forestry sectors of New Zealand's primary ...

investigated the leak. The modification only involved the addition of marker genes for easier detection of the fungus. It is unlikely to cause any additional harm relative to existing ''B. bassiana'' in the environment. It has also not been detected beyond the labs and greenhouses.

Gallery

File:Beauveria_bassiana_209703234.jpeg File:Beauveria bassiana 278332072.jpeg File:Beauveria bassiana en larva de Ithominae (Lepidoptera).jpg File:Echoes_of_the_Inevitable_-_The_Story_Behind_the_Insect-Fungus_System_(Dorsal_view).jpg File:Beauveria bassiana 177776547.jpeg

References

External links

* * ''Beauveria bassiana'' discussed on RNZ ''

Critter of the Week ''Critter of the Week'' is a weekly RNZ National programme about endangered and neglected native plants and animals of New Zealand. Beginning in 2015, ''Critter of the Week'' is an approximately 15-minute discussion between Nicola Toki (origi ...

''
1 September 2023
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2345333 Biopesticides Clavicipitaceae Fungi described in 1836 Malaria Parasitic fungi Fungus species