Diversity of Beauveria spp. isolates from pollen beetles Meligethes aeneus in Switzerland

Pollen beetles Meligethes aeneus were collected in oilseed rape fields at different sites in Switzerland in spring 2004-2005 and 32 isolates of the fungal genus Beauveria occurring as latent infections in the beetles were obtained and molecularly characterized. Three major clades, Beauveria bassiana sensu stricto (Clade A: n = 13), Beauveria brongniartii (Clade B: n = 1) and Beauveria Clade C (n = 18) were identified among the isolates based on sequences of the ITS region and the 5′ end of EF1-α. B. bassiana s.s. was further separated in the two clades, Eu_1 (n = 10) and Eu_4 (n = 3). The intergenic region Bloc provided best resolution of the individual clades B. bassiana s.s. Eu_1, Eu_4 and B. brongniartii. No specific clade of Beauveria appeared to be associated with adult M. aeneus populations. However, data suggested high relative abundance of Beauveria Clade C among the fungal entomopathogens infecting M. aeneus. Characterization of the isolates by simple sequence repeats (SSR) revealed further genotypic diversity within the clades except B. bassiana s.s. Eu_4 which appeared to be clonal. However, the individual SSR markers were differentially amplifiable from isolates of the different clades. It is therefore important to identify the underlying phylogenetic affinity of Beauveria isolates to interpret results based on SSR markers. The data suggest that not all available SSR markers are suitable for reliable characterization of diversity within Beauveria Clade C.

Highlights► Pollen beetles were naturally infected by a high diversity of Beauveria spp. ► Infections belonged to three Beauveria clades; Clade A, Clade B and Clade C. ► Simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers showed specificity according to clades. ► SSR markers revealed diversity in only one of two Beauveria bassiana sensu stricto phylogenetic species.