Contents - Faperta

274 Biotechnological Approaches for Pest Management and Ecological Sustainability
FIGURE 8.2 Larva of Helicoverpa armigera infected with the entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana,
which can be improved for resistance to fungicides for use in integrated pest management.
capacity and virulence to Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Kurdj.). Using electroporation,
B. bassiana GK2016 protoplasts have been transformed to methyl 1,2-benzimidazole
carbamate (MBC) resistance with the N. crassa MBC-resistant beta-tubulin gene (Pfeifer and
Khachatourians, 1992). The MBC phenotype was stable and transformants grew in the
presence of 5 μg MBC mL 1 . Sandhu et al. (2001) obtained B. bassiana transformants with
conventional protoplasting and eletroporation, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment.
Strains transformed with pSV50 harboring the beta-tubulin gene of N. crassa grew well on
benomyl concentrations at 10 μg mL 1 unlike the recipient strain. The transformants were
TABLE 8.6
Genetic Engineering of Entomopathogenic Fungi to Increase Their Effectiveness for Pest
Management
Fungus Gene/Promoter Remarks References
Metarhizium
anisopliae
Paecilomyces
fumoseroseus
Benlate resistance gene
from Aspergillus
Benomyl resistance gene
(beta tubulin) from
Neurospora crassa
Beta glucorinidase and beta
tubulin gene/PBENA3
Grew better in benomyl, and
pathogenic to Manduca sexata
Transformants effective against
Manduca sexta
Transformants were pathogenic
to Bombyx mori
Bar gene/trpC Transformants virulent to
Diuraphis noxia
Beauveria bassiana Beta tubulin/pSV50 Transformants pathogenic to
Helicoverpa armigera
1,2-benzimidazol resistance
with beta tubulin gene
Goettel et al. (1989)
Bernier et al. (1989)
St. Leger et al. (1995)
Cantone and Vandenberg
(1999)
Sudha, Jayakumar, and
Sekar (1999)
Stable transformants Pfeifer and
Khachatourians (1992)
Erwinia herbicola cry1Aa1/pUNG Transformants toxic to Plutella
xylostella
Lin et al. (2002)