Metabolic responses of Beauveria bassiana to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress using an LC-MS-based metabolomics approach

• B. bassiana alleviated the oxidative stress by enhancing lipid catabolism.
• Unsaturated fatty acids can protect the fungus from ROS attack through autoxidation.
• Oxidative stress can promote oxylipins and mycotoxins production.
• Mannitol, betaine and choline involved in mediating osmotic balance of the fungus.
• The fungus can repair cellular damage from ROS via energy and material boots.

The entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, is commonly used as a biological agent for pest control. Environmental and biological factors expose the fungus to oxidative stress; as a result, B. bassiana has adopted a number of anti-oxidant mechanisms. In this study, we investigated metabolites of B. bassiana that are formed in response to oxidative stress from hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by using a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) approach. Partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed differences between the control and the H2O2-treated groups. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) showed 18 up-regulated metabolites and 25 down-regulated metabolites in the H2O2-treated fungus. Pathway analysis indicated that B. bassiana may be able to alleviate oxidative stress by enhancing lipid catabolism and glycometabolism, thus decreasing membrane polarity and preventing polar H2O2 or ROS from permeating into fungal cells and protecting cells against oxidative injury. Meanwhile, most of the unsaturated fatty acids that are derived from glycerophospholipids hydrolysis can convert into oxylipins through autoxidation, which can prevent the reactive oxygen of H2O2 from attacking important macromolecules of the fungus. Results showed also that H2O2 treatment can enhance mycotoxins production which implies that oxidative stress may be able to increase the virulence of the fungus. In comparison to the control group, citric acid and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine were down-regulated, which suggested that metabolic flux was occurring to the TCA cycle and enhancing carbohydrate metabolism. The findings from this study will contribute to the understanding of how the molecular mechanisms of fungus respond to environmental and biological stress factors as well as how the manipulation of such metabolisms may lead to selection of more effective fungal strains for pest control.

Changes of metabolite levels in B. bassiana induced by H2O2 treatment. General biosynthetic pathways of the metabolites were identified by the KEGG database. Red and blue denote higher and lower levels of metabolites induced by H2O2 treatment in B. bassiana, respectively.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide