Abstract
The biochemical effects of twoentomopathogenic fungi, Beauveriabassiana and Metarhiziumanisopliae,were studied in the 3rdinstar larvae of Culex pipiens in the laboratory. Results revealed significantreduction in the total proteins of the treated larvae compared to the controllarvae. Thebiochemical studies using (SDS-PAGE) revealed that there was a reduction in thenumber of protein bands due to the treatment with either of the two fungi. The obtained results indicated that the applicationof entomofungi as larvicidal agents against mosquito larvae caused significantchanges in the total protein profile of Cx. pipiens larvae suggesting thattoxins secreted by these pathogens caused damage to the larval proteins whichfinally leads to larval death. Theconclusion is that the fungal pathogens are important as natural biologicalcontrol agents of manyinsect and other arthropods and frequently cause epizootics that significantlyreduce host population. This study recommends the use of B.bassianaand M.anisopliae as biological control agents to the control of Cx.pipiens larvae in order tosuppress this medical vector for publichealth.
Highlights
Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) species are vectors responsible for the transmission of several infectious diseases with medical and veterinary importance including filariasis, malaria, and arboviruses (Goddard 2008; Mullen & Durden 2009; Medlock et al 2012)
Total protein contents were 9.23 ± 0.15 mg/ml and 3.6 ± 0.31 mg/ml in treated samples of Cx. pipiens larvae with B. bassiana and M. anisopliae, respectively as compared with 12.4 ± 0.23 mg/ml in the control samples
The total protein contents were decreased by 26% and 71% in treated larvae with B. bassiana and M. anisopliae, respectively
Summary
Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) species are vectors responsible for the transmission of several infectious diseases with medical and veterinary importance including filariasis, malaria, and arboviruses (Goddard 2008; Mullen & Durden 2009; Medlock et al 2012). Some problems are caused by the multiple usages of chemical insecticides and reported with respect to the persistence and increase of non-biodegradable chemicals in the environment, the biological enlargement through the food chain, the toxic effect to human health and to non-target organisms, and the increase of insecticide resistance (Rawani et al 2009). Integrated pest management is encouraged due to harmful side effects of the chemical insecticides classically used for mosquito control and insect resistance development (Nauen 2007; Rattner 2009; Rivero et al 2010)
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