In vitro transcriptomes analysis identifies some special genes involved in pathogenicity difference of the Beauveria bassiana against different insect hosts

Jing Liu; Ziqi Ling; Jingjie Wang; Tingting Xiang; Liang Xu; Caixia Gu; Rui Liu; Jing Xu; Cailing Xu; Wei Zhou; Yu Liu; Zhixiong Jin; Yongji Wan

doi:10.1016/j.micpath.2021.104824

In vitro transcriptomes analysis identifies some special genes involved in pathogenicity difference of the Beauveria bassiana against different insect hosts

Microb Pathog. 2021 May:154:104824. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2021.104824. Epub 2021 Mar 7.

Authors

Jing Liu¹, Ziqi Ling¹, Jingjie Wang², Tingting Xiang¹, Liang Xu¹, Caixia Gu¹, Rui Liu¹, Jing Xu¹, Cailing Xu¹, Wei Zhou¹, Yu Liu¹, Zhixiong Jin², Yongji Wan³

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Invertebrate Pathology and Applied Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China.
² Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei, 442000, China.
³ Laboratory of Invertebrate Pathology and Applied Microbiology, College of Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China. Electronic address: canbl3312@126.com.

PMID: 33691180
DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2021.104824

Abstract

Typical entomopathogenic filamentous fungi such as Beauveria bassiana infect susceptible hosts via penetration of insect cuticle. The pathogenicity of B. bassiana strain to diverse insect hosts is different. While the molecular mechanisms of B. bassiana adapt to different insects are not well clear. B. bassiana GXsk1011 is a hyper-virulent strain from silkworm, which was investigated on the metabolic responses to three cuticle extracts of Bombyx mori, Helicoverpa armigera and Clanis bilineata at 24 h by RNA-seq method. A total of 638 up- and 400 down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in B. bassiana grown on H. armigera compared with B. mori, and 910 up- and 401 down-regulated genes for C. bilineata compared with B. mori. Functional categorization showed that DEGs are mainly involved in metabolic processes, localization, catalytic activity and transporter activity. Analysis of 20 highest fold change genes in DEGs showed that when B. bassiana transferred to non-original hosts as H. armigera and C. bilineata, the adhesion (Mad1), protease (Pr2) and cell surface protein (BBA_09174), etc. were down-regulated. While the class III chitinase ChiA2 (BBA_05353, Bbchi-17), major allergen Asp f 2-like protein (BBA_05395, Bb-f2) and nonribosomal peptide synthase, etc. were up-regulated. The secretory lipase that responded to H. armigera and the phosphate permease responded to C. bilineata were also up-regulated in the Top 20 DEGs. These special expressed genes indicate when the B. bassiana transferred to non-original hosts (or called as non-natural hosts), the strain appeared the changes of metabolic response and infection strategies to adapt to new hosts, and implied the key actions of infected adaptation were to break the barrier of different cuticle chitin component and against the immune stress of hosts. This study provided an insight into the B. bassiana that with wide host ranges how to adapt to infect different insect hosts, which will help us to further understand the pathogenesis of B. bassiana infection.

Keywords: Beauveria bassiana; Bombyx mori; Clanis bilineata; Helicoverpa armigera; Infection strategy; Transcriptomic analysis.

MeSH terms

Animals
Beauveria* / genetics
Gene Expression Profiling
Insecta
Transcriptome
Virulence