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.)

Azhar Uddin Keerio; Talha Nazir; Tauqir Anwar; Muhammad Zeeshan Majeed; Yusuf Ali Abdulle; Ghulam Hussain Jatoi; Muswar Ali Gadhi; Dewen Qiu

doi:10.3390/insects11090574

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.)

Insects. 2020 Aug 27;11(9):574. doi: 10.3390/insects11090574.

Authors

Azhar Uddin Keerio¹, Talha Nazir¹, Tauqir Anwar², Muhammad Zeeshan Majeed³, Yusuf Ali Abdulle¹, Ghulam Hussain Jatoi^{1

4}, Muswar Ali Gadhi¹, Dewen Qiu¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
² Pest Warning & Quality Control of Pesticides, Punjab Agriculture Department, Government of the Punjab, Sillanwali 40010, Pakistan.
³ Department of Entomology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Plant Pathology, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam 70060, Pakistan.

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.

Keywords: Beauveria bassiana; Bemisia tabaci; fecundity; fungal proteins; induced resistance; jasmonic acid pathway; salicylic acid pathway; survival.