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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2000, p. 3468-3473, Vol. 66, No. 8
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Colonization of Corn, Zea mays, by the Entomopathogenic Fungus Beauveria bassiana†

Bruce L. WagnerDagger and Leslie C. Lewis*

Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

Received 7 February 2000/Accepted 4 June 2000

Light and electron microscopy were used to describe the mode of penetration by the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin into corn, Zea mays L. After inoculation with a foliar spray of conidia, germinating hyphae grew randomly across the leaf surface. Often a germ tube formed from a conidium and elongated only a short distance before terminating its growth. Not all developing hyphae on the leaf surface penetrated the cuticle. However, when penetration did occur, the penetration site(s) was randomly located, indicating that B. bassiana does not require specific topographic signals at an appropriate entry site as do some phytopathogenic fungi. Long hyphal structures were observed to follow the leaf apoplast in any direction from the point of penetration. A few hyphae were observed within xylem elements. Because vascular bundles are interconnected throughout the corn plant, this may explain how B. bassiana travels within the plant and ultimately provides overall insecticidal protection. Virulency bioassays demonstrate that B. bassiana does not lose virulence toward the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), once it colonizes corn. This endophytic relationship between an entomopathogenic fungus and a plant suggests possibilities for biological control, including the use of indigenous fungal inocula as insecticides.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: USDA-ARS, Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research Unit Genetics Lab., c/o Insectary Bldg., Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011. Phone: (515) 294-8614. Fax: (515) 294-2265. E-mail: leslewis{at}iastate.edu.

dagger Joint contribution from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, and the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa, Project 3543, journal paper J-17700.

Dagger Present address: W. L. Gore and Associates, Medical Products Division, Flagstaff, AZ 86004.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2000, p. 3468-3473, Vol. 66, No. 8
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Wu, J., Ridgway, H. J., Carpenter, M. A., Glare, T. R. (2008). Identification of novel genes associated with conidiation in Beauveria bassiana with suppression subtractive hybridization. Mycologia 100: 20-30 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Cho, E.-M., Liu, L., Farmerie, W., Keyhani, N. O. (2006). EST analysis of cDNA libraries from the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria (Cordyceps) bassiana. I. Evidence for stage-specific gene expression in aerial conidia, in vitro blastospores and submerged conidia.. Microbiology 152: 2843-2854 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
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