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Proteomic analysis of Metarhizium anisopliae secretion in the presence of the insect pest Callosobruchus maculatus

¹ Centro de Análises Proteômicas e Bioquímicas, Pós-Graduação em Ciências Genômicas e Biotecnologia UCB, Brasília-DF, Brazil
² Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília-DF, Brazil
³ Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora-MG, Brazil

Correspondence
Octávio L. Franco
ocfranco{at}pos.ucb.br
or
ocfranco{at}gmail.com

Crop improvement in agriculture generally focuses on yield, seed quality and nutritional characteristics, as opposed to resistance to biotic stresses. Consequently, natural antifeedant toxins are often rare in seed material, with commercial crops being prone to insect pest predation. In the specific case of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), smallholder cropping is affected by insect pests that reproduce inside the stored seeds. Entomopathogenic organisms can offer an alternative to conventional pesticides for pest control, producing hydrolases that degrade insect exoskeleton. In this study, protein secretions of the ascomycete Metarhizium anisopliae, which conferred bioinsecticidal activity against Callosobruchus maculatus, were characterized via 2D electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Proteases, reductases and acetyltransferase enzymes were detected. These may be involved in degradation and nutrient uptake from dehydrated C. maculatus. Proteins identified in this work allowed description of metabolic pathways. Their potential applications in biotechnology include both novel compound development and production of genetically modified plants resistant to insect pests.

Supplementary data are available with the online version of this paper: two supplementary figures, showing Bradford analysis of protein concentration of fungal secretions and the M. anisopliae growth curve in the presence and absence of dehydrated C. maculatus, and a supplementary table presenting in silico evidence of the presence of secretion signal peptide in proteins secreted by M. anisopliae in response to the presence of C. maculatus adult insects.