Transcriptomic investigation reveals a physiological mechanism for Beauveria bassiana to survive under linoleic acid stress

Jia Hou; Hao Zhang; Jin-Li Ding; Ming-Guang Feng; Sheng-Hua Ying

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106551

Transcriptomic investigation reveals a physiological mechanism for Beauveria bassiana to survive under linoleic acid stress

iScience. 2023 Apr 1;26(4):106551. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106551. eCollection 2023 Apr 21.

Authors

Jia Hou¹, Hao Zhang¹, Jin-Li Ding¹, Ming-Guang Feng¹, Sheng-Hua Ying¹

Affiliation

¹ Institute of Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.

Abstract

In integrated pest management program (IPM), the compatibility of mycoinsecticides with bioactive fungicides [e.g., unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs)] has attracted more and more attention; however, the mechanisms underlying fungal resistance to UFAs remain largely unknown. In this study, Beauveria bassiana, an entomopathogenic fungus, was used to explore fungal responses to linoleic acid (LA). Genome-wide expression revealed the transcriptomic responses of fungal cells to LA in a stress-intensity-dependent manner. Enrichment analyses indicated that the up-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) are associated with the metabolism of lipid and fatty acids. Notably, a lipid-droplet protein (BbLar1) maintains the intracellular homeostasis of fatty acids and is crucial to fungal tolerance to LA stress, which significantly contributes to fungal compatibility with UFAs. Additionally, BbLar1 links the lipid droplets to global expression profiles in B. bassiana under LA stress. Our investigations provide an initial framework for improving the efficacy of insect pathogenic fungi in practical application.

Keywords: Interaction of plants with organisms; Molecular microbiology; Transcriptomics.