Two novel soil-derived Beauveria species from eastern China: integrative taxonomy and pathogenicity against Ostrinia furnacalis
Abstract
Species delimitation in Beauveria is challenging because of conserved asexual morphologies and extensive cryptic diversity. Three soil-derived Beauveria isolates from Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong Provinces, China, were investigated using a concatenated four-locus dataset comprising ITS, Bloc, TEF, and RPB1. Detailed cultural and microscopic morphological characterization was performed on GDMCC 3.1077 (AH08D02) and GDMCC 3.1078 (JS02A02), the designated type strains of the two proposed novel species. Their separation was further supported by differences in conidial dimensions and pairwise nucleotide sequence identities of 520/539 bp (96.47%; 12 gap positions) for ITS, 925/997 bp (92.78%; 52 gap positions) for Bloc, 250/263 bp (95.06%; 23 gap positions) for TEF, and 919/926 bp (99.24%; no gaps) for RPB1 between two strains. The concordance of multilocus phylogenetic placement, nucleotide differentiation, and microscopic morphological characteristics supports their recognition as two novel species, described here as Beauveria anhuiensis sp. nov. and B. shunxiangii sp. nov. Laboratory immersion bioassays against third-instar larvae of Ostrinia furnacalis demonstrated concentration-dependent mortality for both type strains. At 1 × 108 conidia/mL, day-9 mortality was nearly 100% for GDMCC 3.1077 and 90.0% for GDMCC 3.1078. The day-9 LC50 were 0.763 × 106 and 2.018 × 106 conidia/mL for GDMCC 3.1077 and GDMCC 3.1078, respectively, while the corresponding LT50 at 1 × 108 conidia/mL were 5.06 and 6.01 days. Although GDMCC 3.1077 yielded numerically lower lethal concentration and lethal time estimates, the overall difference in day-9 mortality between the two strains was not statistically significant. These findings demonstrate the pathogenic activity of both type strains under laboratory conditions and support their further evaluation as potential biological-control resources.
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BibTeX
@article{luo2026novel,
title = {{Two novel soil-derived Beauveria species from eastern China: integrative taxonomy and pathogenicity against Ostrinia furnacalis}},
author = {Min Luo and Xue Guan and Tongyi Liu and Wei Chen and Qunfang Weng and Qiongbo Hu},
journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2026.1980109},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1980109},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Two novel soil-derived Beauveria species from eastern China: integrative taxonomy and pathogenicity against Ostrinia furnacalis
AU - Min Luo
AU - Xue Guan
AU - Tongyi Liu
AU - Wei Chen
AU - Qunfang Weng
AU - Qiongbo Hu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/06
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1980109
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1980109
AB - Species delimitation in Beauveria is challenging because of conserved asexual morphologies and extensive cryptic diversity. Three soil-derived Beauveria isolates from Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong Provinces, China, were investigated using a concatenated four-locus dataset comprising ITS, Bloc, TEF, and RPB1. Detailed cultural and microscopic morphological characterization was performed on GDMCC 3.1077 (AH08D02) and GDMCC 3.1078 (JS02A02), the designated type strains of the two proposed novel species. Their separation was further supported by differences in conidial dimensions and pairwise nucleotide sequence identities of 520/539 bp (96.47%; 12 gap positions) for ITS, 925/997 bp (92.78%; 52 gap positions) for Bloc, 250/263 bp (95.06%; 23 gap positions) for TEF, and 919/926 bp (99.24%; no gaps) for RPB1 between two strains. The concordance of multilocus phylogenetic placement, nucleotide differentiation, and microscopic morphological characteristics supports their recognition as two novel species, described here as Beauveria anhuiensis sp. nov. and B. shunxiangii sp. nov. Laboratory immersion bioassays against third-instar larvae of Ostrinia furnacalis demonstrated concentration-dependent mortality for both type strains. At 1 × 108 conidia/mL, day-9 mortality was nearly 100% for GDMCC 3.1077 and 90.0% for GDMCC 3.1078. The day-9 LC50 were 0.763 × 106 and 2.018 × 106 conidia/mL for GDMCC 3.1077 and GDMCC 3.1078, respectively, while the corresponding LT50 at 1 × 108 conidia/mL were 5.06 and 6.01 days. Although GDMCC 3.1077 yielded numerically lower lethal concentration and lethal time estimates, the overall difference in day-9 mortality between the two strains was not statistically significant. These findings demonstrate the pathogenic activity of both type strains under laboratory conditions and support their further evaluation as potential biological-control resources.
SN - 1664-302X
ER -