Genetic diversity of the fungal pathogen Metarhizium spp., causing epizootics in Chinese burrower bugs in the Jingting Mountains, eastern China.

Based on the internal transcribed spacer and inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR), the phylogenetic relationship and genetic diversity of Metarhizium spp., pathogens found in Chinese burrower bugs, Schiodtella formosana, were analyzed. The results showed that the causative agents of the epizootic green muscardine disease in populations of S. formosana were actually composed of M. anisopliae and its sister species, M. robertsii. The genetic structure of Metarhizium spp. populations were assessed using ten ISSR. A 3D principal component analysis of 51 isolates sampled on different occasions revealed that the Metarhizium spp. populations were temporally heterogeneous. They differentiated into two main clades including over 71 % of all strains causing epizootics, with a similarity of 83 %. The population differentiation was relatively low (G ( ST ), 0.2080), reflecting a large proportion of gene differentiation (79.2 %) within the populations. Further knowledge of the complex species and heterogeneous populations of Metarhizium spp. may be necessary for sustainable control methods of S. formosana.