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Metarhizium and Isaria as biological control agents against Meccus vector of Chagas disease

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Abstract

Metarhizium anisopliae and Isaria javanica represent an alternative as biological control agents for insect vectors in endemic areas with high prevalence and incidence of Chagas disease. The virulence of these fungi toward Meccus pallidipennis, insect vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease was evaluated by their mortality and medium survival time (ST50) on five instar nymphs (N1, N2, N3, N4, N5) and adults of this vector. The virulence of both fungi was evaluated independently by ST50. Thirty µL of a conidial suspension (107 conidia/mL) from each fungus was applied on the insect pronotum, and mortality was reported every 24 h. Experiments were assayed three times for each insect stage and for each fungus. The mortality in all the nymphal stages (N1-N4) of M. pallidipennis with M. anisopliae was > 96% at day 9, except in N5 97% at day 12, and in the adult stage was 100% at day 10. In all nymph stages and adults, the mortality of M. anisopliae was higher than that of I. javanica. The ST50 of N5 and adults for I. javanica was 9.5 and 13 days, respectively, and in these same stages for M. anisopliae, ST50 was 8 and 9 days. M. anisopliae exhibited a higher virulence than I. javanica for the control of the triatomine M. pallidipennis. Both fungi can be a biological control alternative for regulating populations of M. pallidipennis in Chagas disease endemic areas.

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Abbreviations

ST50:

Medium survival time

N1-5:

Instar Nymphs 1–5

EF-1α:

Elongation Factor 1 alpha

ITS:

Internal Transcribed Spacer

ISSR:

Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat

PDA:

Potato Dextrose Agar

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Centro Nacional de Referencia de Control Biológico (CNRCB, SAGARPA) in Mexico for the original fungal strains. KTMA acknowledges her postdoctoral fellowship from the Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico (DGAPA), UNAM, and all the undergraduate students that contributed in the bioassays. The authors thank Mauro Vences Blanco for his support rearing Meccus pallidipennis.

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (PDCPN 2015 − 1247), and Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Project 044/2016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lab. Micología Básica, Dept. Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    Conchita Toriello, Carolina Brunner-Mendoza, M. en C. Hortensia Navarro-Barranco, QFB Amelia Pérez-Mejía, Karla Murillo Alonso, M. en C. Berenice Jiménez-Santiago & M. en C Ana Cecilia Rodríguez-Pérez

  2. Lab. Biología de Parásitos, Dept. Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    Paz María Salazar-Schettino & Margarita Cabrera-Bravo

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  1. Conchita Toriello
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  2. Carolina Brunner-Mendoza
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Contributions

CT conceptualized the study. CT and CBM analyzed the data and wrote the paper. KMA conducted the statistical analysis. HNB and APM helped in conducting the experiments. BJS and ACRP carried out the experiments for their master´s research. PMSS and MCB advised on triatomine insects concerns and analyzed and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Conchita Toriello.

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Toriello, C., Brunner-Mendoza, C., Navarro-Barranco, M.e.C.H. et al. Metarhizium and Isaria as biological control agents against Meccus vector of Chagas disease. Int J Trop Insect Sci 42, 3713–3719 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42690-022-00893-5

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