Microbiota of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda larvae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) infesting vegetables
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64171/JAE.6.2.19-25Keywords:
Spodoptera frugiperda, Bacteria, Yeasts, Identification and PathogenicityAbstract
The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda is a harbour of various microbial communities that varied from symbionts to pathogenic. So, identification of these communities is an important step towards exploring new native entomopathogens or attempting to cause a dysfunction in the symbiotic ones to disrupt the main biological functions of the insect in order to control it. The main objective of this study is isolation and identification of the microbial organisms naturally associated with S. frugiperda larvae. The entomopathogenic bacterium, Bacillus velezensis and three others symbionts, Enterococcus durans, Klebsiella variicola and K. michiganensis were identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Moreover, two symbiotic yeasts, Candida corydalis and Kodamaea ohmeri were identified according ITS sequencing analysis. Also, the pathogenicity of B. velezensis against the third instar larvae was tested. It showed significant virulence making it eligible to be introduced as green sustainable insecticide.
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