04221naa a2200265 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902200140006002400360007410000140011024501310012426000090025550011690026452022480143365300120368165300120369365300200370565300170372565300250374265300360376770000150380370000140381870000160383277301070384810644692024-02-20       2024    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d  a0175-75987 a10.1007/s00253-023-12898-22DOI1 aSESSA, L.  aBeauveria bassiana transcriptomics reveal virulence-associated shifts during insect lipid assimilation.h[electronic resource]  c2024  aArticle history: Received 04 July 2023; Revised 19 September 2023; Accepted 03 October 2023; Published 30 December 2023. -- Lucia Sessa and Héctor Oberti share first authorship. -- Correspondence authors: Abreo, E.; Laboratorio de Bioproducción, Plataforma de Bioinsumos. Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria, Estación Experimental Wilson Ferreira Aldunate, Ruta 48, km, Canelones, Uruguay; email:eabreo@inia.org.uy  ; Pedrini, N.; Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata (INIBIOLP), CCT La Plata Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)-Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), calles 60 y 120, La Plata, Argentina; email:npedrini@med.unlp.edu.ar -- Supplementary information: https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs00253-023-12898-2/MediaObjects/253_2023_12898_MOESM1_ESM.pdf -- Funding: This work was financed by Comisión Académica de Posgrado (CAP) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (INIA, Uruguay) Projects SA24 and SA47. -- Reaxys Chemistry database information. Substances: Pentadecane. -- Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. --  aABSTRACT.- Insect cuticular lipids, especially epicuticular hydrocarbons (CHC), have a significant role in insect ecology and interactions with other organisms, including fungi. The CHC composition of a specific insect species may influence the outcome of the interaction with a specific fungal strain. Some insects, such as Piezodorus guildinii, have low susceptibility towards fungal infections seemingly due to their CHC composition. The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana can assimilate CHC and incorporate them as building blocks via cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYPs). However, little is known about other enzymes that promote the degradation/assimilation of these cuticular components. In this study, we performed a transcriptomic analysis to evaluate the in vitro response of two virulence-contrasting B. bassiana strains when grown on three different P. guildinii CHC sources. We found a different expression profile of virulence-related genes, as well as different GO and KEGG parameters enriched at 4 days post-inoculation, which could help account for the intrinsic virulence and for an alkane-priming virulence enhancement effect. The hypovirulent strain predominantly showed higher expression of cuticle penetration genes, including chitinases, proteases, and CYPs, with GO term categories of "heme binding," "monooxygenase activity," and "peroxisome" pathways enriched. The hypervirulent strain showed higher expression of cell wall remodeling and cell cycle genes, and cuticle adhesion and a distinct set of CYPs, with GO categories of "DNA-binding transcription factor activity" and KEGG pathways corresponding to "meiosis-yeast" and "cell cycle" enriched. These results suggest a delay and alternate routes in pathogenicity-related metabolism in the hypovirulent strain in comparison with the hypervirulent strain. Key points: ?Transcriptomics of two B. bassiana strains grown in P. guildinii cuticular components ?Virulence-related genes correlated with virulence enhancement towards P. guildinii ?Differentially expressed genes, GOs and KEGGs showed different metabolic timelines associated with virulence. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.  aAlkanes  aCuticle  aGene expression  aHydrocarbons  aPiezodorus guildinii  aPLATAFORMA DE BIOINSUMOS - INIA1 aOBERTI, H.1 aABREO, E.1 aPEDRINI, N.  tApplied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2024; 108(1): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-023-12898-2