Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin and Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae (Metschnikoff ) Sorokin are the most common entomopathogenic fungi used in microbial control programs all over the world. | A. SEVİM, M. HÖFTE, Z. DEMİRBAĞ Turk J Biol 36 (2012) 255-265 © TÜBİTAK doi: Genetic variability of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae isolates obtained from the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey Ali SEVİM1,2,3, Monica HÖFTE3, Zihni DEMİRBAĞ2 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Science, Rize University, Rize - TURKEY 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon - TURKEY 3 Department of Crop Protection, Laboratory of Phytopathology, Ghent University, Ghent - BELGIUM Received: Abstract: Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin and Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae (Metschnikoff ) Sorokin are the most common entomopathogenic fungi used in microbial control programs all over the world. Assessments of the genetic variability of these 2 important species are useful for the development of effective biocontrol strategies and for evaluating the impact of artificial epizootics. In this study, the genetic diversity of 13 B. bassiana and 33 M. anisopliae var. anisopliae strains isolated from the hazelnut-growing region of Turkey was determined by using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and α- and β-isoenzyme analyses. Cluster analysis of AFLP data clearly separated both B. bassiana and M. anisopliae var. anisopliae strains into 3 and 4 different groups, respectively. While α- and β-esterase banding patterns clearly separated M. anisopliae var. anisopliae strains, it did not give enough information about B. bassiana strains. We also assessed the growing ability of all isolates at different temperatures (8, 16, 25, and 37 °C) and UV exposures (30 and 60 min), and virulence against Tenebrio molitor. These results indicated that there is a significant variability within the B. bassiana and M. anisopliae var. anisopliae populations in this region. Although the diversity of B. bassiana isolates is associated with geographic location, it is not .
