AUTHOR=Wang Haiyang , Peng Hui , Li Wenjuan , Cheng Peng , Gong Maoqing 

TITLE=The Toxins of Beauveria bassiana and the Strategies to Improve Their Virulence to Insects

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.705343

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.705343

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The long-term and excessive usage of pesticides is an enormous burden on the environment, which also increases pest resistance. To overcome this problem, research and application of entomopathogenic fungi, which are both environmentally friendly and cause lower resistance, have gained great momentum. Entomopathogenic fungi have a wide range of prospects. Apart from <italic>Bacillus thuringiensis</italic>, <italic>Beauveria bassiana</italic> is the most studied biopesticide. After invading insect hosts, <italic>B. bassiana</italic> produces a variety of toxins, which are secondary metabolites such as beauvericin, bassianin, bassianolide, beauverolides, tenellin, oosporein, and oxalic acid. These toxins help <italic>B. bassiana</italic> to parasitize and kill the hosts. This review unequivocally considers beauveria toxins highly promising and summarizes their attack mechanism(s) on the host insect immune system. Genetic engineering strategies to improve toxin principles, genes, or virulent molecules of <italic>B. bassiana</italic> have also been discussed. Lastly, we discuss the future perspective of <italic>Beauveria</italic> toxin research, including newly discovered toxins.</p>