The genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century

Abstract The fungal genus Entomophthora consists of highly host-specific pathogens that cause deadly epizootics in their various insect hosts. The most well-known among these is the “zombie fly” fungus E. muscae, which, like other Entomophthora species, elicits a series of dramatic behaviors in infe...

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Autores principales:	Carolyn Elya, Henrik H. De Fine Licht
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	BMC 2021
Materias:	Entomophthorales Zoopagomycota Early-diverging fungi Entomopathogens Fungal pathogens Behavioral manipulation Botany QK1-989
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e30446c01e4442fb8f7fadc872f0b6bd
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e30446c01e4442fb8f7fadc872f0b6bd2021-11-14T12:15:54ZThe genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century10.1186/s43008-021-00084-w2210-6359https://doaj.org/article/e30446c01e4442fb8f7fadc872f0b6bd2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s43008-021-00084-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2210-6359Abstract The fungal genus Entomophthora consists of highly host-specific pathogens that cause deadly epizootics in their various insect hosts. The most well-known among these is the “zombie fly” fungus E. muscae, which, like other Entomophthora species, elicits a series of dramatic behaviors in infected hosts to promote optimal spore dispersal. Despite having been first described more than 160 years ago, there are still many open questions about Entomophthora biology, including the molecular underpinnings of host behavior manipulation and host specificity. This review provides a comprehensive overview of our current understanding of the biology of Entomophthora fungi and enumerates the most pressing outstanding questions that should be addressed in the field. We briefly review the discovery of Entomophthora and provide a summary of the 21 recognized Entomophthora species, including their type hosts, methods of transmission (ejection of spores after or before host death), and for which molecular data are available. Further, we argue that this genus is globally distributed, based on a compilation of Entomophthora records in the literature and in online naturalist databases, and likely to contain additional species. Evidence for strain-level specificity of hosts is summarized and directly compared to phylogenies of Entomophthora and the class Insecta. A detailed description of Entomophthora’s life-cycle and observed manipulated behaviors is provided and used to summarize a consensus for ideal growth conditions. We discuss evidence for Entomophthora’s adaptation to growth exclusively inside insects, such as producing wall-less hyphal bodies and a unique set of subtilisin-like proteases to penetrate the insect cuticle. However, we are only starting to understand the functions of unusual molecular and genomic characteristics, such as having large > 1 Gb genomes full of repetitive elements and potential functional diploidy. We argue that the high host-specificity and obligate life-style of most Entomophthora species provides ample scope for having been shaped by close coevolution with insects despite the current general lack of such evidence. Finally, we propose six major directions for future Entomophthora research and in doing so hope to provide a foundation for future studies of these fungi and their interaction with insects.Carolyn ElyaHenrik H. De Fine LichtBMCarticleEntomophthoralesZoopagomycotaEarly-diverging fungiEntomopathogensFungal pathogensBehavioral manipulationBotanyQK1-989ENIMA Fungus, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 1-31 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Entomophthorales Zoopagomycota Early-diverging fungi Entomopathogens Fungal pathogens Behavioral manipulation Botany QK1-989
spellingShingle	Entomophthorales Zoopagomycota Early-diverging fungi Entomopathogens Fungal pathogens Behavioral manipulation Botany QK1-989 Carolyn Elya Henrik H. De Fine Licht The genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century
description	Abstract The fungal genus Entomophthora consists of highly host-specific pathogens that cause deadly epizootics in their various insect hosts. The most well-known among these is the “zombie fly” fungus E. muscae, which, like other Entomophthora species, elicits a series of dramatic behaviors in infected hosts to promote optimal spore dispersal. Despite having been first described more than 160 years ago, there are still many open questions about Entomophthora biology, including the molecular underpinnings of host behavior manipulation and host specificity. This review provides a comprehensive overview of our current understanding of the biology of Entomophthora fungi and enumerates the most pressing outstanding questions that should be addressed in the field. We briefly review the discovery of Entomophthora and provide a summary of the 21 recognized Entomophthora species, including their type hosts, methods of transmission (ejection of spores after or before host death), and for which molecular data are available. Further, we argue that this genus is globally distributed, based on a compilation of Entomophthora records in the literature and in online naturalist databases, and likely to contain additional species. Evidence for strain-level specificity of hosts is summarized and directly compared to phylogenies of Entomophthora and the class Insecta. A detailed description of Entomophthora’s life-cycle and observed manipulated behaviors is provided and used to summarize a consensus for ideal growth conditions. We discuss evidence for Entomophthora’s adaptation to growth exclusively inside insects, such as producing wall-less hyphal bodies and a unique set of subtilisin-like proteases to penetrate the insect cuticle. However, we are only starting to understand the functions of unusual molecular and genomic characteristics, such as having large > 1 Gb genomes full of repetitive elements and potential functional diploidy. We argue that the high host-specificity and obligate life-style of most Entomophthora species provides ample scope for having been shaped by close coevolution with insects despite the current general lack of such evidence. Finally, we propose six major directions for future Entomophthora research and in doing so hope to provide a foundation for future studies of these fungi and their interaction with insects.
format	article
author	Carolyn Elya Henrik H. De Fine Licht
author_facet	Carolyn Elya Henrik H. De Fine Licht
author_sort	Carolyn Elya
title	The genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century
title_short	The genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century
title_full	The genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century
title_fullStr	The genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century
title_full_unstemmed	The genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century
title_sort	genus entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e30446c01e4442fb8f7fadc872f0b6bd
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The genus Entomophthora: bringing the insect destroyers into the twenty-first century

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