TY - JOUR
T1 - Isolation of Metarhizium spp. from rhizosphere soils of wild plants reflects fungal diversity in soil but not plant specificity
AU - Nishi, Oumi
AU - Sato, Hiroki
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows [JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 14J09097].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/1/2
Y1 - 2019/1/2
N2 - Understanding the abundance and diversity of fungal entomopathogens associated with plant species is critical for improving their field efficacy as microbial insecticides. Metarhizium is a cosmopolitan entomopathogenic fungus, with some species in this genus showing rhizosphere competencies. This study sought to determine the abundance and diversity of Metarhizium spp. in rhizosphere soils of wild plants in a field in Japan. Metarhizium spp. were detected in 76.2% of 151 rhizosphere soil samples collected from 41 plant species using a plating method. The mean density of Metarhizium spp. in rhizosphere soils was 1.2 × 10 4 colony forming units/g soil [base 10 logarithm of the mean = 4.06 (S.D. = 0.88)]. There was no significant difference in the densities and detection rates between Asteraceae and Poaceae as well as among two aster and one grass species. The fungal isolates were identified as five species, of which M. pingshaense was the most frequently detected and abundant species. No significant specific associations were recognised between the isolated Metarhizium spp. and the examined aster and grass species. Our findings demonstrated the high occurrence and abundance of M. pingshaense in rhizosphere soils of wild plants at the sampling site irrespective of host plant taxa.
AB - Understanding the abundance and diversity of fungal entomopathogens associated with plant species is critical for improving their field efficacy as microbial insecticides. Metarhizium is a cosmopolitan entomopathogenic fungus, with some species in this genus showing rhizosphere competencies. This study sought to determine the abundance and diversity of Metarhizium spp. in rhizosphere soils of wild plants in a field in Japan. Metarhizium spp. were detected in 76.2% of 151 rhizosphere soil samples collected from 41 plant species using a plating method. The mean density of Metarhizium spp. in rhizosphere soils was 1.2 × 10 4 colony forming units/g soil [base 10 logarithm of the mean = 4.06 (S.D. = 0.88)]. There was no significant difference in the densities and detection rates between Asteraceae and Poaceae as well as among two aster and one grass species. The fungal isolates were identified as five species, of which M. pingshaense was the most frequently detected and abundant species. No significant specific associations were recognised between the isolated Metarhizium spp. and the examined aster and grass species. Our findings demonstrated the high occurrence and abundance of M. pingshaense in rhizosphere soils of wild plants at the sampling site irrespective of host plant taxa.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053897879&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85053897879&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/21501203.2018.1524799
DO - 10.1080/21501203.2018.1524799
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85053897879
SN - 2150-1203
VL - 10
SP - 22
EP - 31
JO - Mycology
JF - Mycology
IS - 1
ER -