Abstract
There is much public interest in the use of fungal biological control agents as alternatives to chemical pesticides. However, there are some concerns as to whether the metabolites produced by these fungi pose a risk to humans and the environment. Destruxins are the main metabolites produced by the insect pathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorok. The production of these compounds in two different insect hosts and their subsequent fate in the soil were assessed as a case study. Destruxin profiling revealed that the amount and type of destruxin produced was dependant upon the fungal strain and insect host and that these compounds decomposed shortly after host death. Destruxin decomposition was presumably due to the activity of hydrolytic enzymes in the cadavers and appeared to be independent of host or soil type and biota. Temperature strongly influenced destruxin decomposition. Our studies are the first to show that the destruxins are essentially restricted to the host and pathogen and are unlikely to contaminate the environment or enter the food chain.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the European Commission, Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Programme (QoL), Key Action 1 on Food, Nutrition and Health QLK1-2001-01391 (RAFBCA). The authors thank Dr. Alain Vey, (INRA, France) for providing standards for destruxins B and E and for fruitful discussions on the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Buba Ahmed for his invaluable technical assistance.
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Skrobek, A., Shah, F.A. & Butt, T.M. Destruxin production by the entomogenous fungus Metarhizium anisopliae in insects and factors influencing their degradation. BioControl 53, 361–373 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-007-9077-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-007-9077-1