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Species Diversity and Population Dynamics of Entomopathogenic Fungal Species in the Genus Metarhizium—a Spatiotemporal Study

  • Invertebrate Microbiology
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Abstract

We studied the species diversity and population genetic structure of isolates of fungi from the entomopathogenic genus Metarhizium that had been isolated from sugarcane crops and surrounding grass. Soil and leaf samples were taken on four sampling occasions over 13 months (October 2014–October 2015). Isolations were made using the Galleria mellonella baiting method and selective media. Phylogenetic placement of isolates was done by sequencing a fragment of the 5′ of the elongation factor 1-α gene (EF1-α). Population genetic structure was determined by analysing this sequence information using AMOVA and Haplotype network analyses. Genotypic diversity was studied using microsatellite genotyping. The most abundant species was M. anisopliae s.s. (80 isolates), then M. pingshaense (three isolates), and M. guizhouense (one isolate). More than 50% of the genetic variation was explained by the time the samples were collected regardless of plant host association. Some haplotypes were found on the first sampling date and then not found on subsequent sampling dates, while other haplotypes were found initially, disappeared, but then found again on the last sampling date. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the population genetic structure of M. anisopliae species in time and space. The effect of abiotic factors is discussed.

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Acknowledgements

CHD received and PhD scholarship from CONACyT-Mexico. The authors are grateful to Dr. Stephen Rehner for kindly providing initial training to the first author in the amplification and sequencing of the EF1-α fragment in his laboratory. We are also grateful to Fabián Vázquez Moreno, Jorge Hernandez López and Stephanie Guzman Valencia for their valuable help during sampling, isolate collection and technical assistance for the microsatellite genotyping analysis. The authors are grateful to Drs. R. Alatorre-Rosas, E. Rodriguez-Leyva, M.G. Carrillo-Benitez and J.A. Villanueva-Jimenez for their valuable comments and suggestions during the initial conception of this research. No conflict of interest is declared by the authors.

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  1. Posgrado en Fitosanidad-Entomología y Acarología, Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Montecillo, Km. 36.5 Carretera México-Texcoco, Montecillo, 56230, Texcoco, Estado de México, Mexico

    Carmela Hernández-Domínguez & Ariel W. Guzmán-Franco

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  1. Carmela Hernández-Domínguez
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  2. Ariel W. Guzmán-Franco
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Correspondence to Ariel W. Guzmán-Franco.

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Hernández-Domínguez, C., Guzmán-Franco, A.W. Species Diversity and Population Dynamics of Entomopathogenic Fungal Species in the Genus Metarhizium—a Spatiotemporal Study. Microb Ecol 74, 194–206 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-017-0942-x

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