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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Crop Bioprotection Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412342
Research Project: Discovery and Production of Beneficial Microbes for Control of Agricultural Pests through Integration into Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems

Location: Crop Bioprotection Research

Title: Maize resistance to plant pathogens can interfere with efficacy of the insect biological control agent Beauveria bassiana

Author
item Dowd, Patrick
item Johnson, Eric

Submitted to: Entomological Society of America, International Branch Virtual Symposium
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2024
Publication Date: 4/9/2024
Citation: Dowd, P.F., Johnson, E.T. 2024. Maize resistance to plant pathogens can interfere with efficacy of the insect biological control agent Beauveria bassiana [Abstract]. Entomological Society of America, International Branch Virtual Symposium.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Adoption of insect biocontrol agents has been limited due to varying efficacy. Our experiments with transgenic maize callus expressing different genes coding for proteins that are antifungal towards maize pathogens indicated growth of the insect biocontrol agent Beauveria bassiana was also inhibited when these maize pathogen resistance genes were overexpressed. When leaves from several maize inbreds with varying resistance to Fusarium maize pathogens were treated with two commercial strains of B. bassiana, the percent mortality to corn earworms, European corn borers, and fall armyworms feeding on the treated leaves two days after treatment varied greatly and was often lower when resistance to F. graminearum was higher as indicated by lesion size caused by the plant pathogen. Leaves from transgenic maize plants overexpressing maize chitinase and glucanase genes often inhibited efficacy of B. bassiana, with the degree of inhibition associated with the degree of resistance to F. graminearum. Thus, greater efficacy of insect biocontrol agents should be obtained when plant pathogen resistance mechanisms do not also adversely affect microbial insect biocontrol agents.